On the 2nd of March this year, early in the morning, 530 AM, I was driving to the airport to board a flight to Ahmedabad. About 10 kms short of the Bangalore airport, on the road, I saw a woman signaling cars to stop, to may be drop her to the airport. Cars whizzed by in complete ignorance of her, as did I. Moments later I had this question in my head, why didn’t I stop? Was it because it is unsafe these days? Was it because I don’t care and it’s not my problem? Was it some other fear? I felt uncomfortable about it, took a U-turn, stopped my car. She sat on the back seat. She looked as if she were in her 50’s. Not a word said, I drove to the airport as I were, assuming she’s going there too. She was. As we walked from the parking to the terminal, we exchanged a few words. She was still in a rush as if almost missing her flight. As we were entering the airport terminal, she said she had been waiting 45 minutes for someone to stop. She asked for an email address. I was carrying one of my books, I handed it to her and said she would find it there. I never heard from her. The question – why didn’t anyone stop to help out – hung in my head for a while. I concluded in my head that the world is a selfish place, though all was forgotten after a while. On 29th of April, I was boarding a flight from Delhi to Bangalore. I’d reached the airport a couple of hours early.<< MORE >>

I was in a discussion last week with some of very well regarded industry leaders. The subject of discussion was achieving greatness in groups. Most discussions on groups, and this one no different almost always and implicitly leads to the notion of ‘least common denominator’ and finding ways to round off the rough edges. The magic though lies elsewhere. Examine carefully the leaders of the Indian cricket team in the recent past. The turnaround that started under Sourav Ganguly, the magic lay in Sourav allowing other players to be themselves. The magic for example lay in allowing a Sehwag to be more Sehwag than he himself knew he could be. He didn’t attempt to round off Sehwag’s rough edges or for any of the other youngsters. The magic though lies elsewhere. Examine carefully the leaders of the Indian cricket team in the recent past. The turnaround that started under Sourav Ganguly, the magic lay in Sourav allowing other players to be themselves. The magic for example lay in allowing a Sehwag to be more Sehwag than he himself knew he could be. He didn’t attempt to round off Sehwag’s rough edges or for any of the other youngsters.<< MORE >>

“What a distressing contrast it is between the radiant mentality of a child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.” These words of Sigmund Freud have come to life in almost all of my interactions with groups of people of the last few months, which fortunately in the recent past have been plenty. There is nothing more exciting on the face of this earth than curious little four year old who is absolutely fascinated by anything and everything at which point we (almost as if to destroy it) send him or her to school.<< MORE >>

I am about to make a contrarian point to a popular belief. I am writing this article to communicate a very simple message – the less you do, the more you have. This is obviously opposite to how most people will live their lives, most of us have been taught to work harder or smarter. It makes no difference how smart you are or how hard you work. I am here today to tell you without any doubt and hesitation that the more you work, the less you will have. I have done my research on this statement. You can do yours and reach the same conclusion or for a while just trust mine.<< MORE >>

Marvin Bower, a law graduate, joined McKinsey in 1933. A mere six years later upon the death of James O. Mckinsey, Bower bought over the then 18 person management accounting firm with regional presence and 13 year history of problematic existence. The 35 year old Marvin Bower was the founder, creator and inventor of ‘management consulting.’ Lets put this in perspective – in the 30’s and 40’s in the US, business was regarded as a job less desirable than any profession like law, medicine, armed forces etc. it was usually meant for the third or the fourth child who had nothing to inherit. Marvin after taking over the company, shut down the accounting division<< MORE >>

The reality of this statement can be seen, observed and proven all around us. What everybody knows is mostly wrong because people make one or more erroneous assumption and then like a herd everyone buys in without questioning the assumption. Take one look at the current airline crisis – the Jet Airways Pilot strike and it becomes clear. All the other airlines are collectively, wholly and astoundingly acting stupid. Jet is virtually shut down for lets say five days or so. Here is an opportunity for other airlines – What do the smart brains who quickly huddle into the boardroom on hearing the news do? They identify an opportunity, discuss and arrive at a decision that at this struggling time, here is an opportunity to capture some 15cr of revenue – not just that – also hike prices and make the best of these five days – its festive season, why not?<< MORE >>

Gentleman recognized as the father of operations, West Churchman said about systems that work well – are about aesthetics – NOT details. You must be wondering why am I talking about systems? After all that is not a subject I have ever touched. There is a reason, few recent observations which you must delve into as well – it will change, and I hope it does, the way you look at organizations.<< MORE >>

I was once attending a training program on negotiation. The instructor had placed a small mirror on each desk at the start of the program. He began by asking everyone to look at the person on the left, then the one on the right and then into the mirror. He then made a great statement. He said “two out of the three people you just looked at will not even make mediocre negotiators, not just after this program but through their entire lives.” That was a great wake-up call. Isn’t that statement true for most things in life. << MORE >>

Are you making this mistake? I have been getting some strange requests of late. An executive at large consulting company wants us to participate in some research. It has to paid for. She sends me a long form to fill about my company to register etc etc and become part of this pathetic process. Then there are these requests from various people (banks, credit cards, airlines….. never ending list…) to update some information or the other. Its Funny, I NEVER got a single request from any of my customers over the years, neither did I make one. These are only from salespeople – or should I say LAZY salespeople. Why on earth are you asking me to update your database? How laid back can you be? What do you want me to do next ----- How about your windows? Do they need washing? Floors need waxing? Trash can full? Why not ask me to make your car payment? Don’t you think it’s about time that we put an end to STUPIDITY.<< MORE >>

You and I do not decide elections. Then there are loads of you’s and I’s who do not vote either. The sad part is the quest of power and how murky it all is. I do not question the quest for power. After all if your chosen profession is politics, then the quest to hold a position in a ruling party has to be there. I do however question and feel disturbed by qualifying politics as a profession. Political life has over the years transcended into a profession. A lucrative one. Everyone wants a bite of it for five years – everything else is negotiable – from ethics to integrity, from values to morals, from friends to enemies and enemies to friends – everything.<< MORE >>