Getting ahead of Boss!!

Is it really true that one cannot grow ahead of his boss? In the current Indian Industry scenario - this statement seems to hold true. There seems to be a subconscious psychological barrier that these managers still struggle to cross while evaluating the subordinate. There is a constant fear in back of the bosses' minds what if my subordinate will become my peer and what if he crosses over?

To certain extent the performance review and contenders are also responsible for this trend. One's boss is normally the one who will give the final feedback to him. There is a high chance that the feedback is tweaked to align it with the manager's attitude towards the growth of an individual. This could continue as long as the manager will grow up in the ladder making some space for other's grow.

It is human nature to turn averse to such adverse / tough situations. In some cases some people have self esteem so high to take pride in seeing people worked under him grow to become their boss and attribute to subordinate's ability and hard work. In most of the cases - as long as the reportees grow up the ladder away from the manager's sight, it is fine. It doesn't matter. Else, it will possibly become a matter of ego. The higher the rank the bigger the ego. That's why this would be a good and active contributing reason to ever increasing attrition rate in IT Software industry.

As it appears, organic growth model seldom works in the age of competition. Let's hope that the model in the industry and psychology of those who form part of it changes sooner than later instead of falling in perils to the quotient of ego.

How to resolve issues @ Birla Sunlife Insurance

If you ever happen to run into issues with the payments made for BSLI policy which is not reflecting on your account and don't know who to catch hold of, you may want to get in touch with Market Support Executive.

Their so called toll free numbers don't work normally, but the beauty is that if I call their mumbai number (The number to connect to their call center directly) I am able to talk to the customer support executives (charges rs. 1.5/Minute!)

Even if you call their call center, Customer Support executives will redirect you to one of the local office and ask you to get in touch with the Market Support Executive (MSE)

Please make sure to get a complaint registered and ask for Complain Number. This will save you from telling the same story multiple times to multiple people.

I was based out of Chennai when I ran into this issue and below is the number to Birla Sunlife Insurance office in Chennai who helped me out.

+91-44-28477392
+91-44-28477397

Hope this helps

How to find EPF Details Online

I have shifted the job and was in the process to get my Provident Fund transferred to at new employers'. In the process I found this website to track your claims. I am glad to see the disclaimer on the site that confirms when last the site data was updated and these dates are not older than 2 weeks.

At least using this site, I could validate the correctness of the PF number.

http://epfindia.nic.in/indiaepf/loginnew.aspx

Hope this helps.

Don't Copy if You Can't Paste

A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his audience. He said: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn’t my wife!"

The audience was in silence and shock.

The speaker added: "And that woman was my mother!"

Laughter and applause.

A week later, a top manager trained by the motivational speaker tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit foggy after a couple of drinks. He said loudly to his wife who was preparing dinner, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!"

The wife went, "ah!" with shock and rage.

Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second half of the joke, the manager finally blurted out"....and I can't remember who she was!"

By the time the manager regained his consciousness, he wason a hospital bed nursing burns from boiling water

Moral of the story: Don't copy if you can't paste!

Luck matters ;-)

With a pile of 300 resumes on his desk and a need to pick someone quickly, my boss told me to make calls on the bottom 50 and toss the rest. "Throw away 250 resumes?" I asked, shocked.
"What if the best candidates are in there?"

"You have a point," he said. "But then again, I don't need people with bad luck here."

- Becky Horowitz(Reader's digest)

Aspirations - Back then and now...

When I was a college going kid, my dad gave me a Desktop Computer. Portable drives were matter of luxury so, I started carrying my CPU along to college every day. That was the time I decided I will make myself so qualified that I will deserve a laptop.

5 years down the line - I reached to a level where I was given laptop. I have had so much of computers that my family would be completely pissed, my eyes were getting weaker and doctors will get pissed and the last thing I would want is to get a laptop to play with at home.

With great powers comes great responsibilities - that?s how it works, right? With a laptop there comes a wish from one's project manager that you will be able to work not only from office but also from home and hence be *more productive*. The fun will start when you manage to loose it; as they call it, there will be "consequences"!! It gets really "interesting" when I have to work while at home and my wife is supervising me for the time I attend to office. She would think I am giving more time to lapto than her.

Damn - my dream of laptop now turned out to be an umbrella up my ass!

Performance & Position ;-)

A Priest dies & is awaiting his turn in line at the Heaven's Gates.
Ahead of him is a guy, fashionably dressed, in dark sun glasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket & jeans.
God asks him: Please tell me who are you, so that I may know whether to admit you into the kingdom of Heaven or not?
The guy replies: I am Pandi, Auto driver from Chennai!
God consults his ledger, smiles & says to Pandi: Please take this silken robe & gold scarf & enter the Kingdom of Heaven...
Now it is the priest's turn. He stands erect and speaks out in a booming voice: I am Pope's Assistant so & so, Head Priest of the so & so Church for the last 40 years.
God consults his ledger & says to the Priest: Please take this cotton robe & enter the Kingdom of Heaven...
'Just a minute,' says the agonized Priest. 'How is it that a foul mouth, rash driving Auto Driver is given a Silken robe & a Golden scarf and me, a Priest, who's spent his whole life preaching your Name & goodness has to make do with a Cotton robe?'
'Results my friend, results,' shrugs God.
'While you preach, people sleep; but when he drove his Auto, people PRAYED’ It’s PERFORMANCE & not POSITION that ultimately counts.

Social Networking Sites - Reflecting Truth??

I am inspired to writing about Social networking again since I came across this article: Social networking sites reveal users' true personality

My first expression was... "really?", "Is it possible??", "Can people be this honest?" but now that I give a second thought to it, I think this is possible because of a few reasons

1. Netizens are growing more mature ? stalking ones's gf/bf and watching porn is not the *only* activities
2. Net has turned out to be an integral part of our lives (see this article)
   
3. People may find it easy to share the things when they are not surrounded by others
4. People feel more free to appreciate the shared things when none's watching '

I hardly get a chance to go online and catch up over Facebook and sometimes I think people don't have to publish details as granular as how much disgusting it was for my fellow mates when I farted in the tee! Knock it off guys... we don't want to know what are you doing every minute ! S wasting your time to update your status on all these sites?

But for sure when used such sites legitimately ? it will provide me wealth of information about persona of an individual.

Approach Matters - A Management Lesson

My two minutes were well spent on this repeat-forward and can't eschew from sharing with others! :)

------------------------------------------------------

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (Ink won't flow down to the writing surface). In order to solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did Russians do?? The Russians used a Pencil!!!

One of the most memorable case studies I came across on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so. But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on,and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes
out of the line.

Moral of the story: Always look for simple solutions. Devise the
simplest possible solution that solves the problem So, learn to focus
on solutions not on problems

Relying on Social / Professional Networking websites while recruiting a candidate

I was browsing thru discussion on one of my groups at LinkedIn about leveraging websites like Facebook and LinkedIn to check a candidate's postings before recruiting him.

It tells me a few things ...

1. We do way more things than just googling out for summer internship projects... we socialize over internet!!
   
2. Social / professional networking sites are becoming defacto place to peep into anyone's activities

When it comes to taking an in-person interview; I make sure I "google out" the candidate's name to gather a few data points from not only Linked in but also from any other possible sources online!

The key here is to do this exercise before you get into an interview. This will help you gather some data points about what candidate is doing / has done in his / her professional life and more. Also, if you have developed any prejudices / doubts; during in-person interview, you can clarify by means of asking direct / indirect questions.

I do the same when I am appearing for an interview. If I knew the interviewer?s name in advance, I would like check his/her profile online so that I know whom I am meeting. It helps me better prepare for interview

Something to be aware of is that people have different personality when at work and when participating in discussions at Social Networking sites.

Net net: social and professional websites will definitely help you take a better (and informed) decision if you do note get carried away!

Setting Right Expectations Upfront!

Setting expectations will help one do better business. Successful company will develop a relationship with the clients by telling them will give you a good quality services – but nothing comes for free.

I have worked with software consultancy firms where in I have observed two schools of thoughts. Giving something for free to get the business and then charging high rates to get more business that’s first. The second school of thoughts is – set an expectation up front that there is nothing like a free lunch. We will charge you reasonable rates but we will not do anything for free.

IMHO doing something for free sets wrong expectations. Bring us to a rather philosophical point – grid. Let’s all agree it’s a only human to have unlimited wants! You give something for free and they will want more. This act of giving a free ride - generates grid in minds of the clients and they will ask for more. Again, if someone has to pay very high rates, I am sure they will have a lot more expectations too which will ultimately break the hell loose for the poor developers who will end up burning mid night oil not only for the work they are doing for free but also for the implementation phase where in they have to churn out more. Exceeding expectations is the most dreadful (worst) nightmare come true for them.

Morale of the story: If we set expectations right (and upfront) there are a few tangible advantages. :-)

Capital Markets - Managing Risks

I came across this lecture / webminar – How to manage risk using Price Behaviour analysis - not having base in trading and risk management, it was difficult for me to understand but after hearing it a few times, it makes sense. If you have 45 minutes to watch/listen – time spent will be well worth it.

http://transcripts.fxstreet.com/2009/11/monthly-webinar-how-to-manage-risk-using-price-behaviour-analysis.html

I don't want to crib about India as a country but is what they teach in universities outside India and we normally go by books… what an irony!

On a positive side - technology has enabled us to see whats going outside India and hope we learn soon! :-)

Johny Johny Reloaded

I got this re-loaded version of Johny Johny in a forwarded email. Humorous irony explains plethora of issues today's average Indian employee is facing after meltdown of financial services industry globally.

Enjoy maad! :)

--------------------------

Johny Johny Yes Papa

Pvt Company
Yes Papa

Any Motivation
No Papa

Many Tension
Yes Papa

Do u Sleep well
No Papa

Onsite Opportunity
No papa

Boss Ki Galiyan
Yes Papa

Increment?
Ha ha ha :)

Dilbert explains Delays!!

Dilbert rocks! A typical project management irony well explained that too with humor! :)

Curious case of Indian Colleagues

I hate it when someone intrude in my privacy. It has been an often case that I have to attend meetings and carry a scratch pad. And my Indian colleagues will NEVER miss an opportunity to flip a few pages.

It is interesting to observe them do it. They will start with staring at clearly written name and then play their fingers on the note as if they are and my name is written in braille! (Stop touching my note book - its so Gay!)

They will take their shot the moment you have to attend something else! And even before you know they have it open... The next thing you will know is they are carefully reading every freakin thing you have noted down.

F**k you all my dear colleagues – go back to school and learn a little bit of etiquette and respect someone else’s privacy!!

Rule #1...It's Golden.

I grew up in Trenton, a west Tennessee town of five thousand people. I have wonderful memories of those first eighteen years, and many people in Trenton influenced my life in very positive ways. My football coach, Walter Kilzer, taught me the importance of hard work, discipline, and believing in myself. My history teacher, Fred Culp, is still the funniest person I've ever met. He taught me that a sense of humor, and especially laughing at yourself, can be one of life's greatest blessings.

But my father was my hero. He taught me many things, but at the top of the list, he taught me to treat people with love and respect...to live the Golden Rule. I remember one particular instance of him teaching this "life lesson" as if it were yesterday. Dad owned a furniture store, and I used to dust the furniture every Wednesday after school to earn my allowance. One afternoon I observed my Dad talking to all the customers as they came in...the hardware store owner, the banker, a farmer, a doctor. At the end of the day, just as Dad was closing, the garbage collector came in.

I was ready to go home, and I thought that surely Dad wouldn't spend too much time with him. But I was wrong. Dad greeted him at the door with a big hug and talked with him about his wife and son who had been in a car accident the month before. He empathized, he asked questions, he listened, and he listened some more. I kept looking at the clock, and when the man finally left, I asked, "Dad, why did you spend so much time with him? He's just the garbage collector." Dad then looked at me, locked the front door to the store, and said, "Son, let's talk."

He said, "I'm your father and I tell you lots of stuff as all fathers should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this...treat every human being just the way that you would want to be treated." He said, "I know this is not the first time you've heard it, but I want to make sure it's the first time you truly understand it, because if you had understood, you would never have said what you said." We sat there and talked for another hour about the meaning and the power of the Golden Rule. Dad said, "If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don't, your life probably will be very unhappy and without meaning."

I recently heard someone say, "If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of incalculable value." Truer words were never spoken.

What you just read is one of 28 short chapters in The Power of Attitude. It was titled: "Rule #1...It's Golden."

When to move on from your current job?

So, I have been a loyal employee of X organization for 5. years and 8 months now. This is my second job. At my first job – I joined as a trainee and stayed with them for a reasonable enough time 2 years 1 months

Staying with one organization for long time kind of slows down one’s learning and hence growth as a person. Mind you, I am not talking about climbing up the ladder and getting higher ranks, that comes easy if you stick to one organization for long time. My point is learning – what you get to carry along which will help you become the person you are supposed to be. I wouldn’t totally disagree with the school of thought that states – one should own one’s growth.

Now, this brings us to important question – when is the time to move on? When one outgrows the organization’s growth that is the exit time. One should plan his exit well and have to be very calculative of all available options. Ensure you have more than 1 (at least 3 choices) which gives you *what you want*. Relocation, Salary Hike, Subject of interests to work on, Travel Requirements, Learning Opportunities are some of the things to keep in mind while closing on that final option.

I think change is the way of life – one needs to take some pains to learn new things and that’s the way to grow and such steps should be taken based on calculated risk.

Socialism - A Theory

I am not sure of the authenticity of this - but found it worth a couple minutes and a ponder. It is interesting to see how the educationalists give a first hand experience to the students which is just enough to imbibe the lesson and not severe enough to ruin too much.

-----

The late Adrian Rogers said, "you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.... :-)

The Law of the Garbage Truck - A Short Story

A quote said it very rightly - "Life is 10% what you make and 90% how you take!" I bumped into this story the other day and its worth a read.

The Law of the Garbage Truck
One day, I hopped into a taxi and took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly, a black car, jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed the brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,'The Law of the Garbage Truck'He explained, "



Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. NEVER take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on with the routine life." Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.



The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... 'Love the people who treat you right.. Pray for the ones who don't.'

Necessity of looking good

It was like I had started developing an allergy on my skin. Skin of my face grew more and more dry and started to peel off. I was really scared to the death - what happened to me!!... Again, during this time I ended up meeting someone who happened to be a person of strong sense of aesthetics and thought we may be able to get along well!

It was a great dilemma. I wasn't sure of the other person's ability to digest the fact and there was a risk if told the truth; I might put a seemingly great relationship to jeopardy. It was not fair on part to hide the fact either. Another aspect that got me thinking was - how bigger a deal it was for me to look good. Personally speaking, I would always try to look at a "person within" over looking the appearance of an individual but it might not always work like that. I wasn't sure if the other person will be able to accept me on "as is" basis. What if I would never recover! All those unwanted questions bubbled up my mind. It was only then, that I realized that looks did matter to me a bit - and it might equally be important for the other person.

Later I found out - after a couple of visits to my doctor - that the new hand lotion was something I developed an allergy to and with a couple of ointments and new lotion - I recovered pretty quick...

Definitely a learning experience!!