CEOs, Get Out of the Way!

http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/nayar/2012/05/lets-just-get-out-of-the-way.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date

Very well articulated by Vineet Nayar(CEO, HCL Technologies Ltd.)

In today’s uber fast-changing age, its the employees(specially new recruits) who have the inclination to change if something is not right and/or improvise the current systems. Ideally the top management and people hanging on to their cosy chairs must acknowledge, appreciate and apply feedback. Of-course not every feedback may be in the interest of the organisation, but if majority is saying the same, there has to be some truth in it.

Organisations who stay in the past, will soon become a thing of the past!

P.S. – I just commend Vineet’s approach to employees, how easily he is approachable and trying to connect with his employees first, through various mediums! 

Fantastic Read : The Twelve Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned So Far

Great post by Tony Schwartz !

Few excerpts :

1. The more we know about ourselves, the more power we have to behave better. Humility is underrated. We each have an infinite capacity for self-deception — countless unconscious ways we protect ourselves from pain, uncertainty, and responsibility — often at the expense of others and of ourselves. Endless introspection can turn into self-indulgence, but deepening self-awareness is essential to freeing ourselves from our reactive, habitual behaviors.

2. Notice the good. We each carry an evolutionary predisposition to dwell on what’s wrong in our lives. The antidote is to deliberately take time out each day to notice what’s going right, and to feel grateful for what you’ve got. It’s probably a lot.

3. Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.

4. Never seek your value at the expense of someone else’s. When we’re feeling devalued, our reactive instinct is to do anything to restore what we’ve lost. Devaluing the person who made you feel bad will only prompt more of the same in return.

To read the remaining go here!

Recommended Read : Managers Don’t Really Want to Innovate

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2012/05/managers-dont-really-want-to-i.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date

So true in majority of companies!

Life Refreshed!

First things first -

I truly hope the new year is better in all forms for the entire human race! Its in everyone’s interest that we all grow and do well in all aspects of our life!

Having said that I believe at the end of the day its in our hands to make it happen or at-least make an honest effort and I have no doubt it will not go in vain. You reap what you sow and in this life only!

January is a great time to plan things for the year ahead. Its time to refresh your life and start afresh…seriously! If you have had a great year overall, it will be easy to gain momentum and making sure 2012 is even better! If the year 2011 left a lot to be desired, well here is the good news…now is the time to move on! You have a clean canvas to paint a new picture as you want it!

So whats the thing you hear the most in the new year?

Its called new year resolutions!!! Everyone seems to have them or pretend to have them and almost everyone forgets it past the first week of January!

Frankly, I have never made them so I cant say whether it works or not, but am very keen to have one this year. Or rather at-least list out the things I want to accomplish in the coming year.

I have yet to finish the list, but I came across an article by Harvey Mackay which should be a good guideline to keep in mind while creating one.

To give you a brief about the article :

Making a New Year’s resolution is like setting any other type of goal.  You have to choose wisely if you want to achieve something significant.  Remember that a good resolution, like a solid goal, usually has a few definable characteristics:

• Focus.  Set a definite target:  “Lose 10 pounds by June” is better than “Lose some weight.”
• Challenge.  Your resolution should be neither too difficult, nor too easy.
• Commitment.  Share your resolutions with others.  That will help you work on them.
• Presence.  Write down your resolutions in detail, and post your list where you’ll see it often.
• Vision.  Visualize the results you want to achieve every day.

So welcome and embrace the new year like never before and let this be a year which will turn your life around!

Stay happy, stay healthy!

Ciao!

Tally Visionary “Bharat Goenka” Gets Nasscom’s First Ever Lifetime Achievement Award

 

 

Nasscom Product Conclave was a great experience and more so because my company’s MD and Visionary Founder – Mr.Bharat Goenka was conferred with the Nasscom Lifetime Achievement Award. Adding to the excitement is the fact that this was the inaugural year of the award!

Everyone remembers who got it first!  

 

About Nasscom - The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the Indian chamber of commerce is a consortium that serves as an interface to the Indian software industry and Indian BPO maintaining a state of the art information database of IT software and services related activities for use of both the software developers as well as interested companies overseas.

Nasscom Product Conclave 2011, Bangalore

 

About The Event

It is fascinating to observe the similarities in the structures of an orchestra and a corporate enterprise.  Just as the harmonious music from an orchestra is fashioned by multiple instruments, in a corporate set-up, myriad activities are orchestrated to create value that is exchanged with the customer for a price.  All businesses strive to achieve – and maximize – this exchange across all their activities, internal and external.

The Chief Executive Officer of the firm – much like the concert master – carefully determines the framework in which these forces function and interact with each other. However, the scenario gets complicated with the introduction of the external forces, which have the potential to make or break an enterprise.  It is imperative for businesses today – especially start-ups – to holistically understand the Forces@Work which is why NASSCOM focuses on this theme at the Product Conclave this year

Similar to the traditional definition of forces in physics, business forces also act on organizations – and alter their state, shape and, most often, also direction. At the heart of every C-suite decision lies the CUSTOMER which places a slightly disproportionate importance on vector forces that direct themselves towards this segment. This year,  the “never miss” NASSCOM  Product  Conclave  deliberates these very “Forces @ Work” and aims to equip attendees with powerful ideas that will help build and take products to the customer.

All successful companies at every stage of their evolution focus on being “market-led”. This is more crucial for start-ups, which otherwise have a fallacious tendency to be “technology-led”. The conference will address core issues businesses face today – be it new areas of opportunity, exploring new markets, scaling business, enterprise or consumer sales, hyper growth vs. slow growth.

 

Who should attend :

• Indian Product Companies and Startups
• MNC product companies
• CIOs
• SaaS / PaaS players
• Outsourced Product Development Companies
• System Integrators
• Services companies with Product Aspirations
• Investment Community – VCs, PE, Angels, seed funds
• Incubators
• Academic Institutes

 

Speakers List

Schedule

Personally I am really looking forward as a lot of interesting and exciting entrepreneurs are taking part in various keynotes/panels/round-tables and so on! Another reason to be excited is just our visionary and inspiring co-founder of Tally Solutions – Mr.Bharat Goenka would also be taking part in one of the panels session!!

In today’s highly flat world, I feel its imperative for professionals/entrepreneurs to attend these events to meet people, bounce ideas, or just for motivation/inspiration. Working and restricting yourself to your cubicle can take you away from so many new ideas/thoughts and put you in a cocoon.

See you there!

 

Ciao

Anirudh

Video: Seth Godin on the Difference Between Leadership and Management

About  Seth : Seth Godin is a best-selling author and a renowned name for his unconventional views on Marketing/Social Media.

There is a very thin line between a leader and a manager and its not unusual to make the mistake of substituting one for another. For me a few differences which came to my mind -

• Manager thinks short-term and a leader thinks long-term.
• A manager sees how best to utilize a person’s skill for the task at hand. A leader uncovers skills in people who were themselves not aware of it.
• A manager doesn’t connect(very few do) at different levels apart from the context of the work. A leader connects with its people at different levels and forms an attachment. Feeling attached is very important for people to accept some one as their leader.
• Not every manager can be a leader and not every leader can be a manager.
• A manager is good at execution, a leader is good at planning.

What according to you sets a leader apart from a manager?