SDMIMD Library

2012-02-19T10:07:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success

"Fall seven times, stand up eight.” - Japanese Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Catastrophe of Success

Something odd and interesting happens to a lot of people who become very successful. Once the initial thrill wears off, they come to perceive their success as "a catastrophe" and even as "a kind of death," as the playwright Tennessee Williams famously put it, after The Glass Menagerie became a smash hit in 1944. Athletes, scientists, generals, entrepreneurs, executives, performers, and politicians have expressed this paradox in different words. Paul Samuelson, an economist who won the Nobel Prize in 1970, later concluded that, "After winners receive the award and adulation, they wither away into vainglorious sterility."

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble by Debra E. Meyerson

2012-02-18T09:11:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority. ” - Tom Hopkins

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Unfair Trade Practices and its effects on Consumer

Introduction

Customers are the king and meaningful in marketing concept. Now a day's heavy integrated marketing Communications attract the customers by unfair promotion and communications because of high competition and easy sales leads.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble by Debra E. Meyerson

2012-02-17T09:27:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Strength

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Five Steps to Assess Your Strengths

As discussed in my previous post, your personal value proposition (PVP) is why an employer should hire you or promote you over someone else. It's the foundation of your career strategy.

A product's value proposition only works if it's true, if the business has the organizational competencies needed to deliver the value proposition. Likewise, a PVP only works if it's true — if you have the strengths required. So the first step in developing a winning value proposition is self-appraisal to assess your strengths.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

The Complete Guide to Mentoring: How to Design, Implement and Evaluate Effective Mentoring Programmes by Hilarie Owen

2012-02-16T09:12:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Internet

"The Internet is the world's largest library. It's just that all the books are on the floor." - John Allen Paulos

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Restore Yourself to Your Factory Default Settings

My wireless connection to the internet had suddenly stopped working. At first I was frustrated — I had been in the middle of browsing some books on Amazon. But I quickly took it as a blessing. I had an article to write and the Amazon browsing was a distraction. I resisted the temptation to distract myself further by trying to fix it and got to work. I finished the article in record time.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action by Nick Morgan

2012-02-15T09:26:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Expenditure

"The gratification of wealth is not found in mere possession or in lavish expenditure, but in its wise application." - Miguel de Cervantes

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Spend management

Spend management is the way in which companies control and optimize the money they spend. It involves cutting operating and other costs associated with doing business. These costs typically show up as "operating costs" or SG&A (Selling, General and Administrative) costs, but can also be found in other areas and in other members of the supply chain.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Marketing of high-technology products and innovations / Jakki Mohr, Sanjit Sengupta, Stanley Slater

2012-02-14T09:04:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

People skills

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Three Skills Every 21st-Century Manager Needs

The world of work has changed dramatically over the past decade. Companies are more global and employee groups more diverse than ever before. Organizational structures are less hierarchical and more collaborative. And today’s networked offices are full of technological distractions that would have been unimaginable to the 20th-century manager.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Why not? : how to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small / Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres

2012-02-13T09:59:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Managers

"There are only two kinds of managers. Winning managers and ex-managers.” - Gil Hodges

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The No Whining Rule for Managers

One of my senior clients used to keep a "no whining" sign in her office. It seemed odd to have the sign so prominently displayed at a senior executive level. After all, the managers that walked into that office were not children, but mature adults with collective responsibility for thousands of employees. Why would they whine instead of just solving problems?

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Unlocking human capital to drive performance : a CEO's handbook / Sanjiv Anand

2012-02-12T08:56:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Expecting and Accepting

"Expecting and Accepting are the two sides of life: Expecting can end in tears, but Accepting will bring you cheers!" - Mohammed

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Most Important Question You Can Ask

Why are you here? It's arguably life's most important question, but is it one you ask yourself?

I recognize it's a question some people might view as self-indulgent, while others would see it primarily through a religious lens. But is there any part of an answer we could all agree on?

I've found a very simple one for myself, and it's provided me in recent years with an increasingly powerful sense of clarity, inspiration and even joy. It's this: I'm here to add more value to the world than I'm using up.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Why not? : how to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small / Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres

2012-02-11T09:09:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Work

"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. " - Peter Drucker

TOPIC OF THE DAY

FDI in Retail - More Good than Bad

Indian industry's euphoria over the government's decision to throw open the country's retail trade to foreign companies gave way to despair after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced suspension of the plans owing to political pressure from both within the ruling coalition and outside.

The issue of allowing FDI in the multi-brand retail is of immense importance because as much as 7.8% of India's total workforce is engaged in retail trade (NSSO 66th Round), which are mostly the small groceries, handlooms-textiles-garment shops, family stores etc. Now with FDI in this sector, multinational giants with multi-billion dollar enterprise like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco etc. who sell from grocery-items to garments, furniture to fitness-equipments, are allowed to set up their stores in India. Notwithstanding the government's claim of 'revolutionizing' the retail sector in India, it needs to be asked that what will be its impact on the unorganized retail which consists of 95% of total retail sector in India while organized trade accounts only for the remaining 5%. Out of this organized and unorganized retail almost 60% of the household expense consists of food and grocery expense.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Why not? : how to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small / Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres

2012-02-10T09:30:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Customer

"It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages." - Henry Ford

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Five Foursquare Tactics to Attract Customers

There are troubling signs for the country's retailers as Americans continue to slow down their spending and hunt for deep discounts. No one expects a blockbuster holiday season. Most retailers are just hoping to eek out a slight increase over the year before. Some retailers, however, are leveraging location-based mobile tools like Foursquare to outsmart the competition.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Steve Jobs way : iLeadership for a new generation / Jay Elliot with William L. Simon

2012-02-09T09:18:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Talent

"Talent works, genius creates. " - Robert A. Schumann

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Talent Management

Talent management is a complex collection of connected HR processes that delivers a simple fundamental benefit for any organization:

Talent drives performance. We all know that teams with the best people perform at a higher level. Leading organizations know that exceptional business performance is driven by superior talent. People are the difference. Talent management is the strategy.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Steve Jobs way : iLeadership for a new generation / Jay Elliot with William L. Simon

2012-02-08T09:15:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Relationship

"Relationships fail because of trust issues, commitment issues and communication issues." - Bob Goddard

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Get to Know Your Boss's Boss

Many people meet their boss's boss when they are hired, and then promptly forget about her. But does your manager's manager know what you've done recently? What does he think of you?

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Plunnge: Reinvention for the New Generation (Paperback) by Rakesh Godhwani

2012-02-07T09:19:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Just remember -- when you think all is lost, the future remains." - Bob Goddard

TOPIC OF THE DAY

India: Organizing for Effectiveness in the Public Sector

By privatizing state-owned monopolies and deregulating whole industries,governments the world over have brought market forces to bear on electricity, telecommunications, and other economic activities formerly carried out in the public sector. This increased market pressure has in turn raised productivity as organizations in once-sleepy fields apply performance-enhancing tools long employed by private enterprise.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Plunnge: Reinvention for the New Generation (Paperback) by Rakesh Godhwani

2012-02-06T09:13:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Character

"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." - Abraham Lincoln

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Three Skills Every 21st-Century Manager Needs

The world of work has changed dramatically over the past decade. Companies are more global and employee groups more diverse than ever before. Organizational structures are less hierarchical and more collaborative. And today’s networked offices are full of technological distractions that would have been unimaginable to the 20th-century manager.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Imperial ambitions : conversations with Noam Chomsky on the post-9/11 world / Noam Chomsky

2012-02-05T09:33:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success

"Success is an oath that was taken at the altar of determination." - John Asiegbu

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Is "Command and Collaborate" the New Leadership Model?

The theme at Davos this year was "The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models." One of the models up for discussion was leadership. Panels with titles like "Leading Under Pressure" and "New Leadership Models from China" abounded. While speaking at a private dinner hosted by PwC on the topic of leadership and values in a volatile world, the questions put to me were, "What leadership traits will be paramount in the future?" and "What are the new expectations the public has for business leaders?"

On reflection, it struck me that the conversation this year was very different than in years past. We were no longer talking about reinventing leadership but about adding new elements to the old model. An additive operation in the algebra of change, as my colleague Stuart Albert would put it, not a subtractive or transformative process.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Imperial ambitions : conversations with Noam Chomsky on the post-9/11 world / Noam Chomsky

2012-02-04T10:31:00.002+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture & Diversity

""Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul." - Edward Abbey

TOPIC OF THE DAY

When Working Globally, Master Cultural Norms

If you're thrust into an unfamiliar culture, as a manager, you have to modify your behavior to fit cultural norms. This can be tough, especially if it makes you feel inauthentic. If you face this discomfort, try these three things:

Identify the challenge. Pinpoint what's making you uneasy. For example, in a culture that values a top-down leadership style, are you struggling to provide clear directives?
Adjust your behavior. Make small but meaningful adjustments that both reflect the culture you're working in and stay true to your values. You don't have to yell at employees, but could you be more assertive?
Recognize the value. While you may need to behave in counter-intuitive ways, focus on the desired outcome.

Topic cited in Harvard Business Review “Management Tip of the Day” on Feb 3, 2012

2012-02-03T09:16:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Innovation

"Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure." - Albert Einstein

TOPIC OF THE DAY

A Few Ideas for Beleaguered Innovators

Keep the faith. That's what I said to a client who is going through a crisis of confidence. Over the summer he had put together the underpinnings of what on paper looked like a promising growth business. But — as is usually the case — the more he analyzes, the more he doubts; the more he shows the results of his analysis to senior leaders, the more questions they ask, and the more they doubt.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Imperial ambitions : conversations with Noam Chomsky on the post-9/11 world / Noam Chomsky

2012-02-02T09:06:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Wisdom

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." - Confucius

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What Your Boss Needs to Know about Engagement

On October 28, Gallup posted an article with the sobering headline "Majority of American Workers Not Engaged in Their Jobs." This should disturb every American worker and business leader. In an earlier report, Gallup estimated that worker disengagement accounts for more than $300 billion annually in lost productivity in the U.S. alone.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Imperial ambitions : conversations with Noam Chomsky on the post-9/11 world / Noam Chomsky

2012-02-01T09:38:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Creativity

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." - Joseph Chilton Pierce

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Think Creatively

I grew up hungry to do something creative, to set myself apart. I also believed creativity was magical and genetically encoded. As early as the age of 8, I began sampling the arts, one after another, to see if I'd inherited some gift.

Eventually, I became a journalist. For many years, I told other people's stories. I was successful, but I rarely felt truly creative.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Imperial ambitions : conversations with Noam Chomsky on the post-9/11 world / Noam Chomsky

2012-01-31T08:52:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Work

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus." - Alexander Graham Bell

TOPIC OF THE DAY

10 Tips for Razor Sharp Concentration

Writing to-do lists and keeping a schedule may keep you organized, but does it really help you get more done? I believe that organization is important, but what you really need is focus. Being able to sit down and concentrate intensely on your work for a few hours. Even a half hour of focused effort can get more done than an entire day of distraction and multitasking.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems by Stephen R. Covey

2012-01-30T09:34:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Interview

"The best interviews -- like the best biographies -- should sing the strangeness and variety of the human race." - Barber, Lynn

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Interview Question You Should Always Expect

Whether you are a new middle manager or a new President-elect, the common wisdom is that you have three months to make an impact in your new role. And yet when preparing for job interviews, candidates make the mistake of believing that most questions will be about their past experience, not what they plan to do once hired.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour by Michael Lewis

2012-01-29T09:59:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Beauty and Happiness

"Beauty might bring happiness, but happiness always brings beauty." - Narayan Veeraraghavachar

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Social Media Analytics

SAS Social Media Analytics is an enterprise-hosted, on-demand solution that integrates, archives, analyzes and enables organizations to act on intelligence gleaned from online conversations on professional and consumer-generated media sites. It enables you to attribute online conversations to specific parts of your business, allowing accelerated responses to marketplace shifts.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour by Michael Lewis

2012-01-28T09:06:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Inspiration

“Change your thoughts and you change your world. ” - Norman Vincent Peale

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Internal Marketing - A Review

Feasibility studies aim to objectively and rationally uncover the strengths and weaknesses of the existing business or proposed venture, opportunities and threats as presented by the environment, the resources required to carry through, and ultimately the prospects for success.

It is commonly believed that the sole role of marketing is to sell products and services outwardly to customers. In fact, the first and most urgent job of marketing is often to sell inwardly toward a company's people. For, it is only when the people of the company fully understand and are committed to the value proposition of the organization and its brands that external marketing can reach its full potential.

Marketing and the marketing philosophy came into prominence in the 1960's, yet it was not until the 1980's that it became widely accepted, practiced and seen by most organizations as indispensable. Similarly, participative management gained wide acceptance in the 1980s, and the 1990s saw the emergence of the strategic approach to HRM. The need to align human resources to the organizational strategy is widely accepted and, more recently, the need to focus organizational resources towards customer and market orientation has gained ground in the emergence of market-focused management.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Strategic management / Michael A. Hitt

2012-01-27T11:42:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Challenge

"There is no Challenge more challenging than the challenge to improve yourself." - Michael F. Staley

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Put Your Best People On Your Most Boring Challenges

At a recent not-for-attribution dinner with several (exceptionally) successful internet entrepreneurs, the conversation quickly turned to talent. How do you get the best value from your best people over time? The majority insisted that top talent's time should focus on the highest value-added problems and opportunities.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

C.V. Raman: A Biography by Uma Parameswaran

2012-01-25T09:15:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Work

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Get Ready for Your Next Assignment

When Bruce Wilkinson, an executive in World Vision International’s Zambia operation, learned that he was going to be promoted to regional director for southern Africa, he immediately started reading performance reviews of key staff members and talking to his peers, other national officers in the $2.6 billion organization.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour by Michael Lewis

2012-01-24T09:28:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Perfection

"When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target." - George Fisher

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Give Feedback to a Perfectionist

Having a perfectionist on your team can be an asset. Perfectionists are driven to succeed, work hard to avoid mistakes, and are always striving to improve. Yet it can be a challenge to manage someone who needs everything to be perfect.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour by Michael Lewis

2012-01-23T09:31:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Performance

"Great works are done when one is not calculating and thinking." - Daisetz T. Suzuki

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Delivering an Effective Performance Review

It's performance review season, and you know the drill. Drag each of your direct reports into a conference room for a one-on-one, hand them an official-looking document, and then start in with the same, tired conversation. Say some positive things about what the employee is good at, then some unpleasant things about what he's not good at, and end — wearing your most solicitous grin — with some more strokes of his ego. The result: a mixed message that leaves even your best employees feeling disappointed. But if you take the right approach, appraisals are an excellent opportunity to reinforce solid performers and redirect the poor ones.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour by Michael Lewis

2012-01-22T10:06:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Opportunity

"Every Interaction is an Opportunity." - Vijay Samuel Benjamin

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Interim management

Interim Management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change within an organization. In this situation, a permanent role may be unnecessary or impossible to find on short notice. Additionally, there may be nobody internally who is suitable for, or available to take up, the position in question.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Data-driven marketing : the 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know / Mark Jeffery

2012-01-21T09:54:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Goals

"Goals are dreams with deadlines." - Diana Scharf Hunt

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Set Goals Before Meeting With Your Mentor

Knowing what you want from a mentoring relationship is critical. Before you sit down with your mentor for the first time, decide what you hope to learn. Ask yourself what you want in work and life. Which assets will help you get there? Identify the strengths that will best serve you. Then, honestly examine the roadblocks, challenges, or weaknesses that are slowing you down. Once you do that you're ready to articulate your goals and share them with your mentor. Keep it to no more than five goals, so they don't detract from what your mentor has to offer.

Today’s thought is adopted from the Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need by by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Melinda Marshall, Laura Sherbin, Amy Gallo, Diane Coutu, Lew McCreary, Jodi Glickman, Priscilla Claman, Rob Cross, Robert Thomas, Jeanne C. Meister, Karie Willyerd, Tammy Erickson, Hollis Heimbouch as cited in ‘Management Tip’ of HBR Blog dated January 19, 2012.

2012-01-20T09:09:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Health

"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship." - Buddha

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Avoiding Office Politics

"I won't do it," he said. "I don't care who they are; I won't buddy up to people I don't like and respect just because I want something from them."

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Data-driven marketing : the 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know / Mark Jeffery

2012-01-19T09:13:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Criticism

"Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots." - Frank A Clark

TOPIC OF THE DAY

7 Effective Ways to Deal With Criticism

Nobody likes being criticised but, unfortunately it is a fact of life. To be able to respond to criticism with nobility and detachment is an important life skill, which few people have. If we respond to criticism without careful consideration, it can easily lead to unnecessary suffering.

1. What Can I Learn from Criticism?

Most criticism is probably based, at least in part, on some truths. Criticism may appear negative. But, through criticism we have the opportunity to learn and improve from their suggestions.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Data-driven marketing : the 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know / Mark Jeffery

2012-01-18T09:22:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Invention

"Inventing is the mixing of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less materials you need." - Charles F. Kettering

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Be Prepared for What You Don't See Coming

Have you ever worked on a project that produced unexpected results? Unintended consequences are common in business. For example, sometimes when a senior manager makes a request, it causes a cascade of activity that is far beyond what she intended. The classic story (which may be an urban legend) involves a former Chairman of General Motors who casually commented to a staff member that he didn't like the color of the buildings on campus — and inadvertently triggered an expensive (and totally unnecessary) repainting program.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Data-driven marketing : the 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know / Mark Jeffery

2012-01-17T08:31:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Risk Management

"The fact that people are full of greed, fear, or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable." - Warren Buffett

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Risk and Reward

How do you determine proper risk and reward in trading? I don't think anyone can ever provide a definitive answer to that question because its is akin to asking how many layers do you need to walk outside of my apartment in New York City in the winter. Right now as the thermometer reads a balmy 8 degrees Fahrenheit as I type this at 3 in the morning, you need about four layers just to make it to the coffee shop across the street. But just last week you could have made the same journey in a T shirt without feeling a chill.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Data-driven marketing : the 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know / Mark Jeffery

2012-01-16T08:55:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Communication

"By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach." - Winston Churchill

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Don't Send That Email. Pick up the Phone!

Around this time last year, I wrote about how we need to get back to allowing conversation to occur without texting, emailing, browsing, Tweeting, Facebooking, or doing whatever else zeros and ones can do these days on smart phones, iPads, notebooks, etc. I am as guilty as the next person of falling for the perception that any response latency is unacceptable. As 2012 fast approaches, this needs to go on top of my New Year's resolution list: focus on the live conversations at hand, rather than parallel conversations on the Blackberry screen.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-15T10:24:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Truth

"Truth does not always seem truthful." - French Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Conjoint analysis

Conjoint analysis, also called multi-attribute compositional models or stated preference analysis is a statistical technique that originated in mathematical psychology. Today it is used in many of the social sciences and applied sciences including marketing, product management, and operations research.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-14T09:40:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

E Mail

"In the time honored tradition of email, just ignore the question." - John Doddin.

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Emailing and Pick up the Phone

Email has fundamentally changed the way we interact. But, it cannot replace live conversation. This especially applies when resolving a conflict or communicating an important business decision. Far too many people try to do sensitive business via email. This is problematic because tone and context are easy to misread. In a live conversation, how one says something is as important as what they are saying. Without inflections and intonations, it's hard to understand the feelings behind the words. In fact, email-based conflict often escalates because you aren't forced to be as thoughtful as you would be in a one-on-one conversation. Next time you have a delicate or complex issue to discuss, take your hands off the keyboard and pick up the phone.

Today's Thought is adopted from "Don't Send That Email. Pick up the Phone!" by Anthony Tjan as cited in Management Tip of Harvard Business Review blog on January 13, 2012

2012-01-13T09:32:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Mentoring

"Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction." - John C. Crosby

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Get the Mentoring Equation Right

I used to be able to say "yes" to pretty much anyone who reached out to me for mentoring. As requests increase, however, and wonderfully so, I fear that I am going to overlook those with promise who don't quite know how to package themselves. Worse yet is the thought that I may inadvertently rebuff someone simply because I haven't managed my time well, neglecting to give them the courtesy of a proper no.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-12T09:01:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Music

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." - Victor Hugo

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Music - An Excellent Therapy For Stress And Tension In Today's Scenario

Our lives are filled with work, family and other personal obligations. It is difficult to manage these obligations and sometimes we feel the need to avoid them. But it is not possible. How much ever you try to avoid them, these things are still part and parcel of your life. At the end of the day, you may feel relieved when these obligations are fulfilled but you are bound to get stressed.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-11T09:21:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Recognition

"People may take a job for more money, but they often leave it for more recognition." - Bob Nelson

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Reorganizing? Think Again

If you ask managers to name their favorite sport, you'll hear a wide variety of answers: Football, baseball, tennis... But what they won't tell you is the one sport that all managers play the most: The Game of Reorganization.

Managers love to reorganize at almost every level. Whether triggered by a leadership transition, a fundamental change in the business, an acquisition, or poor performance; lines, boxes, and people tend to move around. In fact it's highly unusual to find an organization that has not shifted its structure in some way within the previous six months.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-10T09:13:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things." - Albert Einstein

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Remove Barriers Between Management and Non – Management Personnel

Relationships – whether business or personal – have their obstacles to overcome. And, as much as we want to blame others for our problems or for their stubborn behavor, there are things both parties can and should do in order to foster the healthiest working environment possible.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-09T09:22:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listening

"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention." - Thich Nhat Hanh

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Really Listen

One morning, my wife Eleanor woke up, turned over, and said, "I am not looking forward to this day." I asked her why.

What came out is that we were at the start of the Jewish high holy day season, which means colder weather and three weeks of big social meals, long religious services, broken routines, and children out of school. Eleanor didn't grow up with these traditions, and they can be overwhelming.

Now, I run a management consulting company; problem solving is what I do. So it didn't take me long to jump in.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Marketing strategies : a contemporary approach / Ranchhod, Ashok

2012-01-08T10:32:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Aim

"Happiness is man's greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness." - Epicurus

TOPIC OF THE DAY

A 7-Step Process to Achieving Your Goals

Here's how you can use this process to achieve your goals for this year:

1.Write down your top goal or goals for the year (or quarter).
2.Dump all your current and upcoming tasks or projects into the spreadsheet.
3.Freak out.
4.Sort your list into related chunks.
5.Review your list of tasks, and categorize their importance and urgency.
6.Cull your deprecated tasks.
7.Review your committed tasks and cull again.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-07T09:02:00.002+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Request

"An objection is not a rejection; it is simply a request for more information." - Bo Bennett

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Handle a Raise Request

As a manager, it can be stressful when an employee asks for a raise, especially if there is no company policy. But answering a difficult compensation question doesn't have to be a headache. Try these three steps:

Don't answer right away. Thank the person for bringing up the issue and then promise to get back with an answer by a specified date. This allows you time to confer with other leaders.
Fairly assess the situation. The amount of money an individual is paid is a function of two things: the value of the job itself and the person's quality of performance. Examine both.
Go back. During a second conversation, ask the individual to explain both how she might enhance her performance and how she can make her job more valuable to the organization. Base your final decision on this input combined with your assessment.

Today's Thought is adopted from "How to Handle a Raise Request" by Dick Grote as cited in HBR’s “Management Tip” on September 23, 2011

2012-01-06T09:20:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Perfection

"No one is perfect... that's why pencils have erasers.” - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Manage a Perfectionist

o you have a perfectionist on your team? The good news is that your direct report has high standards and a fine attention for detail. The bad news is that he fixates on every facet of a project and can't set priorities. Can you harness these positive qualities without indulging the bad? Can you help him become less of a stickler? Yes and yes. Managing a perfectionist can be challenging but it's not impossible. And when done well, you both will benefit.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-05T09:19:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Problems

"It is wise to direct your anger towards problems - not people; to focus your energies on answers - not excuses.” - William Ward

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Fire, Snowball, Mask, Movie

What does it take for an ineffective manager to become a highly effective leader? Talk to 50 top CEOs, management consultants, and academics, and you’ll get a different answer from each. There are countless books, models, and formulas for success. But the truth is this: Leadership transformation is deeply dependent on context. Everyone follows his own path, has her own story. The key for people who are seeking transformation is to identify the common threads in the experiences of others who have achieved success and absorb the insights they find there.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Go for no! : yes is the destination no is how you get there / Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

2012-01-04T09:36:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Training

"The best training any parent can give a child is to train the child to train himself.” - A. P. Gouthey

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Best Approach to Training

How many times have you trained a junior colleague, new hire, or summer intern in a task only to have that person come knocking on your door every five minutes with a different question about some key detail?

Let me ask you a different question. Do you remember sitting in your physics, or chemistry, or calculus class in high school or college and watching the teacher do a problem on the board? Do you remember being able to solve a problem on your own if the new problem was just like the old one? Do you remember not being able to solve a new problem if it was not just like the old one?

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre

2012-01-03T10:05:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Relationship

"Our greatest joy-and our greatest pain comes in our relationships with others." - Stephen R. Covey

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What's Your One Big Theme?

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year, the time when we think about our past year and plan for our next. What do I want to repeat? What do I want to do differently?

I usually start with everything I want to do differently. And the list is long.

I eat way too much — well past my point of being full — and leave almost every meal uncomfortable. I feel scattered in my day, focusing on too many things at once, switching rapidly from one thing to the next.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre

2012-01-02T09:18:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Motivation

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." - Jim Ryun

TOPIC OF THE DAY

It Takes More Than Money to Motivate People

Look on the net and you’ll find plenty of articles saying that money is a powerful motivator. Talk to employees, however, and you’ll find that money doesn’t always talk – or at least not the loudest. Time after time, sales organizations put bonus structures in place that anyone should be able to attain –and yet only a handful of people make the top levels. Usually the same people who were at the top before the new reward structure was announced, end up on top afterwards as well.

Why don’t these potential prizes cause people to change their behavior and start producing more? Simply put, because rarely do companies also do anything that effectively encourages their people to work harder or give them additional training to help them perform better. Nor do they give employees a reason that actually motivates them to work harder.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre

2011-12-31T09:04:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listening

"Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly." - Plutarch

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Listen Without Reacting

Listening is harder than speaking. Even the best listeners sometimes have to bite their tongues to stop from reacting, interrupting, or trying to console the person talking. Here are three ways you can truly listen:

Avoid distractions. This doesn't just mean putting down the Blackberry or closing your web browser. Try not to think about what you're going to say next. Simply focus on what the other person says.
Repeat back. This sometimes feels silly, but repeating back what you heard shows the other person that you're listening.
Ask thoughtful questions. Ask open-ended questions that help you see the issue more clearly and allow your conversation partner to go deeper into what he cares about.

Today's Thought is adopted from HBR’s “Management Tip” cited "How to Really Listen" by Peter Bregman on December 30, 2011.

2011-12-30T08:51:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Vision

"The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious." - John Scully

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Vision without action is a dream

“Vision without action is a dream”. So said Joel Barker in the late 70’s and 80’s, when he introduced the corporate world to the “paradigm shift”. A “paradigm shift” is a radical change, more metamorphosis than evolution, of thinking. This was an extension of Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolution”, popularized in the 60’s. The printing press or more recently the internet, are examples of paradigm shifts - radical, irreversible changes in the way things work on a mass scale.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre

2011-12-29T09:28:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Learning

"Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere." - Chinese Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Your First Job Doesn't (Really) Matter

I recently polled a trailblazing group of women leaders — Northwestern University's Council of 100 — about their careers. How many of us were in the same job or even on the same career path today as we were when we graduated from college? The answer was three: three out of one hundred women. Then I asked how many were in the same industry. The number went up to about twenty.

So, at twenty-one years old, 20% of us knew the field we wanted to be in (and would ultimately succeed in) and 3% of us got both the job and the industry right out of the starting gate.

Gen Y's, don't worry: this isn't a cautionary tale; it's a reprieve. Don't worry so much about your first job — you're probably not going to get it right anyway, and that's okay.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Great by choice : uncertainty, chaos, and luck - why some thrive despite them all / Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

2011-12-28T09:10:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Change

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change." - Jim Rohn

TOPIC OF THE DAY

9 Tips for Change Agents

The job title on Chris Turner's business card simply reads "Learning Person."

"It's like 'citizen of the world,'" she says. "Ultimately my hope is that people in all parts of XBS will see themselves as Learning Persons."

As nonhierarchical as her job title sounds, Turner's role at XBS is that of "chief change agent." Here are her nine lessons for would-be change agents.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Great by choice : uncertainty, chaos, and luck - why some thrive despite them all / Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

2011-12-27T08:40:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Identity

"An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience." - James Baldwin

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What's in a (First) Name

Back in the day when I was growing up (think early 80's) there wasn't an adult whom I didn't address as Mr. or Mrs. so and so. Grown ups were addressed with deference, distance, and formality and we kids knew what the protocol was. Today, I have a four-year-old whose friends all call me Jodi — and if someone were to address me as Mrs. Glickman, I'd do a double take and assume they were talking to my mother.

As goes our social world, so too goes the workplace. Addressing people by their first name is now the norm in corporate America (though not in the rest of the world — to the ongoing consternation of business travelers). And while there are critics and bow-tied traditionalists who will decry such an outrage or indecency or informality, I think that we all need to get with the times.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Great by choice : uncertainty, chaos, and luck - why some thrive despite them all / Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

2011-12-26T08:49:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success

"A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success." - Elbert Hubbard

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Should you stay Late or go Home?

Let me start this post with a confession: I'm usually the last person to leave my office. I get in around 8:00am or earlier and often don't get home until after 7:00pm. But I'm not complaining. I love my work (and have an understanding family). But since there's always more to do than there is time to do it, I've gotten into the pattern of expanding my workday.

I'm not the only one. In fact, a recent study suggests that nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies report that their employees have worked more hours over the past three years. It's likely that there are similar percentages in other countries.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bad money : reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism / Kevin Phillips

2011-12-24T09:10:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Feedback

"Feedback is the breakfast of champions." - Ken Blanchard

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Reconnect After Giving Tough Feedback

Hearing that your performance is lacking can be harsh, even alienating. That's why as a manager, you need be thoughtful when delivering difficult feedback to your employees. You probably know to do two things: first, articulate what your employee is doing well, and second, provide input on problematic behaviors. But don't forget an important third step: reconnect. After hearing difficult input, an employee may avoid you or feel she can't come to you for advice. Reestablish your relationship and reiterate what you value most. Point out her writing skills or thank her for asking tough questions during meetings. You can also check in on a personal matter: Ask, "How was your daughter's play?" or, "Did your wife hear back about that job?" Do this at the end of the feedback session or wait until the next day. Just be sure to connect so she is comfortable continuing the relationship with you.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from Guide to Giving Effective Feedback as cited in HBR’s Management Tip cited on December 22, 2011

2011-12-23T09:12:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Honesty

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Drop Your Mask and Be Authentic

Are you hiding from your employees? Too many leaders try to conceal their flaws and present a polished façade. Or they try to behave like they think "great" leaders do. When you try to be someone else, it erodes trust and effectiveness and causes people to question your true identity. So drop the mask and be who you really are. This can enhance your relationships, foster trust, and create better business outcomes. Be honest about your imperfections and ask others to help you determine how to bring more of your authentic self to work.

Today's Management Thought was adapted from "Fire, Snowball, Mask, Movie: How Leaders Spark and Sustain Change" by Peter Fuda and Richard Badham as Cited in HBR’s “Management Tip” published on December 21, 2011.

2011-12-22T09:14:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Fire, Snowball, Mask, Movie

What does it take for an ineffective manager to become a highly effective leader? Talk to 50 top CEOs, management consultants, and academics, and you’ll get a different answer from each. There are countless books, models, and formulas for success. But the truth is this: Leadership transformation is deeply dependent on context. Everyone follows his own path, has her own story. The key for people who are seeking transformation is to identify the common threads in the experiences of others who have achieved success and absorb the insights they find there.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bad money : reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism / Kevin Phillips

2011-12-21T08:44:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Delayed Action

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." - Japanese Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Procrastinating...Now

It seems that no one is immune to the tendency to procrastinate. When someone asked Ernest Hemingway how to write a novel, his response was "First you defrost the refrigerator." But putting off tasks takes a big hit on our productivity, and psyche. Procrastination is not inevitable. Figuring out why you postpone work and then taking concrete steps to prevent it will help you get more done and feel good about yourself.

What the Experts Say-

According to Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist and the author of 12 books, including Driven to Distraction, delaying work is often a symptom of how busy you are. "We procrastinate because we all have too much to do," he says. And of course, we want to dodge things we don't like. "Many people procrastinate because they fear the drudgery or the difficulty of the task they are avoiding," says Teresa Amabile, the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and coauthor of The Progress Principle.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bad money : reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism / Kevin Phillips

2011-12-20T09:29:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Self Management

"It is the necessities of life which generate ideas of right and wrong." - W. Somerset Maugham

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Five Tips to Break Through Your Filter(s)

It is no surprise that we instinctively seek out those who share our interests. This is especially true in times of increasing pressure and uncertainty. We have an understandable tendency in such times to seek out the familiar and comfortable as a buffer against the unforeseen changes around us. In so doing we can inadvertently put ourselves in a cage of similarity that narrows our peripheral vision of the world and our options. The result? We may be even more vulnerable to being blindsided by events and trends coming at us from new and unusual directions.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Foundation course in human values and professional ethics : presenting a universal approach to value education-through self-exploration / Gaur, R. R.

2011-12-19T09:23:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success

"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore." - Dale Carnegie

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Foundation course in human values and professional ethics : presenting a universal approach to value education-through self-exploration / Gaur, R. R.

2011-12-17T09:29:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Customer Service

"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it." - PETER DRUCKER

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Engage Employees Using Customer Service Tactics

Most companies claim they want enthusiastic, engaged employees — and with good reason. Employee engagement and financial performance are connected. A recent study by Aon Hewitt, for example, found that companies with high levels of engagement outperformed the stock market in 2010.

And yet Gallup research indicates that more than 70 percent of employees in the typical company are "not engaged" or "actively disengaged."

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Theory of Consumer Behaviour by Shri Prakash

2011-12-16T09:24:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Business

"In the word Business, the letter “U” comes before the letter “I”." - Anonymous

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Five Things You Should Stop Doing in 2012

I recently got back from a month's vacation — the longest I've ever taken, and a shocking indulgence for an American. (Earlier this summer, I was still fretting about how to pull off two weeks unplugged.) The distance, though, helped me hone in on what's actually important to my professional career — and which make-work activities merely provide the illusion of progress. Inspired by HBR blogger Peter Bregman's idea of creating a "to ignore" list , here are the activities I'm going to stop cold turkey in 2012 — and perhaps you should, too.

1.Responding Like a Trained Monkey.
2.Mindless Traditions.
3.Reading Annoying Things.
4.Work That's Not Worth It.
5.Making Things More Complicated Than They Should Be.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Theory of Consumer Behaviour by Shri Prakash

2011-12-15T09:30:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Apologize

"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth." - Benjamin Disraeli

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Smart Apologies should be Strategic

Last month when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings hit "send" on his now infamous "I messed up" blog post and summarily announced the formation of the "Qwikster" business to run Netflix's DVD network, a new chapter in botched crisis communications was written.

After more than 27,000 comments, significant customer backlash, and a startling drop in the company's stock price, we can finally step back and discern several lessons from Hastings' communications faux pas.

Chief among them is how business leaders can use strategic communications techniques to stop adding fuel to the digital-age fires. Throwing half-hearted apologies at an issue will just exacerbate a festering problem — and people will view it as an obvious and empty attempt to quiet the masses.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Theory of Consumer Behaviour by Shri Prakash

2011-12-14T09:37:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Loyalty

"I’ll take fifty percent efficiency to get one hundred percent loyalty." - SAMUEL GOLDWYN

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Keeping Your Clients Loyal, From Wherever You Are

For building the kind of enduring client relationships necessary for long-term growth, nothing replaces face-to-face contact. But these days, you're just as likely to be doing business across the world as down the street (just yesterday, I was Skyping from Boston with a client in Vancouver). Except for the most bedraggled of new consulting firm recruits, no one is on-site with clients 24-7. So how do you cultivate loyal, trusting — and lasting — client relationships when you can't always pop in for a meeting or take them out to dinner? Here are five ways to do it.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

2011-12-13T09:29:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Doubt

"Doubt Your Doubts But Not Your Beliefs." - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Six Social Media Trends to Watch for in 2012

Every year for the last five years, social media pundits have written posts about “what’s going to happen” in the next year. Specific mergers and acquisitions are predicted, the rise and fall of technologies are predicted, and improbable future trends are hyped ad nauseum.

Rather than focusing in on a granular level (which is often wildly incorrect), it’s more realistic for small, medium, and enterprise companies to examine high-level trends and apply them in a sensible manner to their businesses. Goodbye “shiny new object,” hello balanced perspective. In that spirit, here are some macro developments to plan for in 2012:

1. Social customer relationship management becomes the norm for medium and large companies.
2. Social marketing automation becomes tangible and inexpensive.
3. Most social media platforms adopt robust analytics.
4. Outsourced social media management becomes commoditized.
5. Completion of the Baby Boomers’ adoption of social technologies.
6. Rapid consolidation occurs in enterprise-level social media.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

2011-12-12T09:54:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Communication

"Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them." - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Never Ask 'Does That Make Sense?

Just as a chef is attuned to the subtleties of flavor and trends in the culinary arts, a presentation coach is attuned to the subtleties of language and trends in the communication art. One trend I've noted recently is the expression, "Does that make sense?" often used by a speaker during a conversation — or a presenter during a presentation — to check whether the listener or audience has understood or appreciated what the speaker has just said. Unfortunately, the expression has two negative implications:

• Uncertainty on the part of the speaker about the accuracy or credibility of the content
• Doubt about the ability of the audience to comprehend or appreciate the content.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

2011-12-11T09:33:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Truth

"Truth is often eclipsed, but never extinguished." - Livy

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Weave Change into Your HR Processes

Profound changes in an organization must be led from the top, but human resource professionals can play a big part in making them happen.

Consider HR's role in accelerating Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates' operational improvement initiative. This 4,500-employee Massachusetts healthcare group embarked on "Care Improvement" three years ago. Chief Human Resources Officer Dan Michaud told me how HR has helped weave the initiative into all the firm's processes for managing people:

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

2011-12-10T10:01:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Advantage

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." - Mark Twain

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Use Office Politics to Your Advantage

No matter what your company, you've probably encountered organizational politics. One of the most frequent complaints that I hear from managers is how difficult it is to get things done in the face of conflicting agendas, misaligned priorities, pursuit of personal goals, and unresolved issues — all often lumped under the umbrella of "politics." Recently, for example, a health care manager told me about a proposal she had made that had the potential to generate millions in new revenue and provide a critical service to customers — but was shot down because other groups were lobbying for the status quo. "It's a shame that politics got in the way of doing something that made so much sense," she said.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

2011-12-09T09:44:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Education

"Education is all a matter of building bridges." - Ralph Ellison

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Understanding the role of trainees in effective training:

Training is amongst a multi-facet function of human resource management which helps in deciding the positive outcomes for an organization .Right from retention of employees to better performance and efficient working it is the training function which builds a positive brand image and brings a sense of commitment since the employees feel they are able to produce as well as learn better. But this can be made true only when it is need based for trainees.

By designing effective and need based training( specifically keeping trainees in focus) program employees learn better ,get motivated to enhance their skill, knowledge and attitude and are able to reproduce the implication of learned skills in improving further thus bringing benefit to both self and organization as a whole. The present paper focuses on keeping trainees as most important component while designing training program. It will help in bringing clarity on role of different trainee related factors on training.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

2011-12-08T09:23:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leader

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Become an Extraordinary Leader

Here's a short quiz:

When you brought your report card home in high school did your parents:

A) zero in on the C's and say, "What's the matter here?"

B) focus the A-minuses, pat you on the back, and say, "Great job, now let's push these up to A's"?

If you're typical of the high-potential leaders I work with, you experienced A. And I suspect that wasn't only your parent's reaction, it was yours as well — and not just for your report cards but for your performance reviews. And why not? The point of a progress report is to point out where you need to make progress. And certainly that means shoring up your weaknesses, doesn't it?

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Fundamentals of Cost Accounting (3e) by William Lanen, Shannon Anderson, Michael Maher

2011-12-07T09:27:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Performance

"You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That's the mark of a true professional." - Joe Paterno

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Competing to be the Best

With Cyber Monday, the tablet wars kicked into full swing. Which one is the best? Is it the iPad? The Kindle? Who has the best technology? The best distribution? Who's the best overall? For most people, "being the best" is what competition is all about. So General Motors CEO Dan Akerson was simply echoing popular sentiment when, on the day the new GM went public, he threw down the gauntlet: "May the best car win!" he told reporters. The phrase reflects an underlying belief about the nature of competition that feels so intuitively correct that it is almost never examined or questioned.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Fundamentals of Cost Accounting (3e) by William Lanen, Shannon Anderson, Michael Maher

2011-12-06T09:28:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Challenges

"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." - Joshua J. Marine

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Challenge of the Average Employee

Most businesses have a normal distribution of talent — a limited number, say top 10 percent, of high potential, rock star performers, a bottom decile of under-performers, and a thick middle of 80 percent of folks who get the day-to-day stuff done. In well-managed businesses, there are clear feedback mechanisms to ensure that the bottom of the talent pack gets managed out efficiently and objectively. While at GE, Jack Welch popularized the notion that it was good to fire the "bottom 10" of his managers every year. On the other end of the spectrum, the better companies manage the top-end of their talent pool, providing mentors to groom this group of next-generation of leaders and compensating them differentially in recognition of their superior performance.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Fundamentals of Cost Accounting (3e) by William Lanen, Shannon Anderson, Michael Maher

2011-12-05T10:37:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Delegation

"Give up control even if it means the employees have to make some mistakes."- Frank Flores

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Art of Delegation

Delegation is a skill of which we have all heard - but which few understand. It can be used either as an excuse for dumping failure onto the shoulders of subordinates, or as a dynamic tool for motivating and training your team to realize their full potential.

"I delegate myne auctorite" (Palsgrave 1530)

Everyone knows about delegation. Most managers hear about it in the cradle as mother talks earnestly to the baby-sitter: "just enjoy the television ... this is what you do if ... if there is any trouble call me at ..."; people have been writing about it for nearly half a millennium; yet few actually understand it.

Delegation underpins a style of management which allows your staff to use and develop their skills and knowledge to the full potential. Without delegation, you lose their full value.

Read on...

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How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

2011-12-04T10:24:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Life is a book of riddles with the real lessons writ small in its margins." - Mohammed

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Using Social Networks to Improve Operations

For decades the mystery shopper was the main way retailers assessed operations from a customer's point of view. By sending in a fake shopper, typically once a month, an individual store essentially was buying a dozen performance snapshots per year. Then telephone surveys began to supplement mystery shopping. Today, digital technologies are supplanting both, with online customer surveys providing an exponentially greater number of performance snapshots per day.

A well-managed loop that links customer experience feedback with recommendations on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp, can boost service quality and operational performance, increase traffic and create more happy customers — people who crow about a retailer online for free, turning their friends into new customers too.

Read on...

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How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

2011-12-03T10:30:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Motivation

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Motivation to achieve success

Turn off the T.V. Turn down the volume on your radio. Block out all noise. Be quiet and listen. Listen for just five minutes. I don’t want you to pay attention for my sake, but for yours. Are you not worth five minutes of your own time?

Do you have a deep desire to achieve something great? Do you want to live a more satisfying life? Can you see yourself being happy and successful in every way? Do you believe in your own potential and that here is much more to you than meets the eye?

If so, you are a dreamer. This article is dedicated to you. Right now you are the most important person around. If you had been the only person to ever read this article, I would still have written it, just for you. You are that special.

Read on...

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How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

2011-12-02T09:14:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Perfectionism

"Even the best needles are not sharp at both ends." - Chinese Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Perfectionism: Healthy or Hurtful?

I'm a perfectionist, even though books like Overcoming Perfectionism and Perfecting Ourselves to Death tell me I should stop trying to be one. As a psychologist specializing in obsessive compulsive disorder, I have even worked with patients specifically on giving up perfectionism. But I have come to realize that negative views of perfectionism don't ring true to them, or to me. In fact, I now consider perfectionism to be one of my most valuable attributes.

Read on...

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How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

2011-12-01T09:10:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Advertisement

"A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself." - David Ogilvy

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Wrap Advertising

For your business to succeed, you need effective marketing campaigns. Without any means of advertising, your corporation will not have as many customers as you expect.

There are several ways to promote a company to the public. These include print, broadcast, celebrity, Internet, and mobile advertising. With the increasing prices of traditional media, companies are looking for ways to reach wider audiences without shelling out a fortune. One way of doing this is to use vehicle wrap advertising.

Wrap Advertising is nothing but advertising on vehicles is called Wrap Advertising. Wrap advertising is a new concept in recent trends of marketing. Wrap advertising is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping) a vehicle in an advertisement or livery, thus turning it into a mobile billboard.

Read on...

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How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

2011-11-30T09:15:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? " - Benjamin Disraeli

TOPIC OF THE DAY

For Great Leadership, Clear Your Head

Getting stuff done is overrated. Knowing where you are going and how to get there — strategy — is everything. But many managers still spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking. Your first challenge is learning how to stop the action.

But focusing and thinking about the big picture are not as simple as blocking out time and turning off your devices. It is about managing your attention, or what I call "mindshifting."

Read on...

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CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

2011-11-29T11:48:00.004+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Wellness

“In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.” - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Strategies for Creating a Culture of Corporate Wellness

We understand how difficult it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A fast-paced schedule can make it difficult to find time to exercise and cook a healthy meal.

Read on

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RSS Feed

2011-11-28T09:10:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Competition

"Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress." - HERBERT HOOVER

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What business you are in?

Though Theodore Levitt wrote his famous article titled Marketing Myopia in 1975, I believe the idea behind this article is still very much relevant and I think it will become increasingly more important in the future. Why? Lets find out.

According to Levitt, most companies fail because they incorrectly define the business they are in, that is, they define it narrowly in terms of the product rather than the benefits the product or service provides to the customer.

Read on...

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CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

2011-11-27T10:19:00.002+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Talent

"No one respects a talent that is concealed." - Desiderius Erasmus

TOPIC OF THE DAY

One Page Talent Management

We all know it takes top talent to win in today's marketplace. You spend a lot of time and money to attract and retain the best talent. But sometimes it seems that no matter how well designed your talent management processes are, they still fail to deliver the talent depth you need.

Talent management expert Marc Effron says companies unwittingly add complexity to their talent management and turn processes like setting employee performance goals into complicated time-wasters that turn managers off and produce poor results.

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CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

2011-11-26T10:05:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Time Management

"The key is in not spending time, but in investing it."

- Stephen R. Covey

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Time Management

Time management is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools, and systems working together to help you get more value out of your time with the aim of improving the quality of your life.

The important point is that time management is not necessarily about getting lots of stuff done, because much more important than that is making sure that you are working on the right things, the things that truly need to be done.

Smart time managers know that there is much more to do than anyone could possibly accomplish. So instead of trying to do it all, smart time managers are very picky about how they spend their time.

Read on...

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CASES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT by Amita Mital

2011-11-25T09:48:00.004+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

“Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.” - Henry Van Dyke

TOPIC OF THE DAY

You Can't Dictate Culture — but You Can Influence It

There's an old joke about a CEO who attended a presentation on corporate culture and then asked his head of HR to "get me one of those things." Of course it sounds ludicrous — but like most jokes, this story is based in truth. Many organizations treat the creation, maintenance, and periodic updating of their cultures in a cavalier manner. Either they pay lip service to the kind of culture they want, but don't do much about it — or worse, ignore culture completely.

Read on

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Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, Del I. Hawkins

2011-11-25T09:48:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

“Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.” - Henry Van Dyke

TOPIC OF THE DAY

You Can't Dictate Culture — but You Can Influence It

There's an old joke about a CEO who attended a presentation on corporate culture and then asked his head of HR to "get me one of those things." Of course it sounds ludicrous — but like most jokes, this story is based in truth. Many organizations treat the creation, maintenance, and periodic updating of their cultures in a cavalier manner. Either they pay lip service to the kind of culture they want, but don't do much about it — or worse, ignore culture completely.
Read on

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href="http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073381101/information_center_view0/> Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, Del I. Hawkins

2011-11-25T09:48:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

“Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.” - Henry Van Dyke

TOPIC OF THE DAY

You Can't Dictate Culture — but You Can Influence It

There's an old joke about a CEO who attended a presentation on corporate culture and
then asked his head of HR to "get me one of those things." Of course it sounds
ludicrous — but like most jokes, this story is based in truth. Many organizations
treat the creation, maintenance, and periodic updating of their cultures in a
cavalier manner. Either they pay lip service to the kind of culture they want,
but don't do much about it — or worse, ignore culture completely.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

RSS Feed

2011-11-24T09:48:00.002+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Rationality

“Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one. ” - Salman Rushdie

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Embrace Your Irrational Colleagues

Have you ever wondered why perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent colleagues resist or reject perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent ideas? Obviously it's not because they are stupid. There is just something going on that we don't realize.

Read on

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The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done Dave Crenshaw

2011-11-24T09:48:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Rationality

“Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one. ” - Salman Rushdie

Embrace Your Irrational Colleagues

How IBM Is Changing Its HR Game
Have you ever wondered why perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent colleagues resist or reject perfectly sensible, rational, and intelligent ideas? Obviously it's not because they are stupid. There is just something going on that we don't realize.

Read on

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The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done Dave Crenshaw

2011-11-23T09:22:00.002+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade. " - Tom Peters

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Being Micromanaged

No one likes a boss who excessively scrutinizes work and constantly checks in. Not only is this micromanaging behavior annoying, it can stunt your professional growth. If you have a controlling boss, you don't have to suffer. By assuaging a micromanager's stress, you may be able to secure the autonomy you need to get your work done and advance your career.

href="http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/09/stop-being-micromanaged.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip112211&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip112211">Read on

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ref="http://www.wileyindia.com/index.php?page_id=bookdetails&id=9788126521937"> MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

2011-11-23T09:22:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade. " - Tom Peters

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Being Micromanaged

No one likes a boss who excessively scrutinizes work and constantly checks in. Not only is this micromanaging behavior annoying, it can stunt your professional growth. If you have a controlling boss, you don't have to suffer. By assuaging a micromanager's stress, you may be able to secure the autonomy you need to get your work done and advance your career.

href="http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/09/stop-being-micromanaged.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip112211&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip112211">Read on

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ref="http://www.wileyindia.com/index.php?page_id=bookdetails&id=9788126521937"> MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

2011-11-22T08:27:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Value

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." - Warren Buffett

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Bringing Values to Life

During the 1980s, when I was co-founder and leader of The Achieve Group, we worked with California-based Zenger Miller and Tom Peters to implement a culture-change process based on Peters' and Bob Waterman's book, In Search of Excellence. Adding to, and building upon, the work of their McKinsey & Company colleagues, Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, Peters and Waterman showed that the cultures of excellent companies are grounded in core values.

The idea of clarifying core values was new for many management teams at the time. We helped hundreds of teams in centering their change-and improvement-effects around their vision, as well as a set of three to five core values that best defined the culture they were trying to reinforce, change, or improve.

Today it's a rare organization that doesn't have a set (most often a laundry list) of values. In fact, values have become one more item added to the requisite organization checklist (Organization chart? Check. Strategic plan? Check. Budget? Check. Vision statement? Check. Values? Check). Frequently when we ask about the organization's values, a dusty old piece of paper is produced. Quite often is followed by a debate about whether or not this is the right version of the organization's values.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

2011-11-21T09:09:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Competence

"If a leader demonstrates competency, genuine concern for others, and admirable character, people will follow." - T. Richard Chase

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Dealing with your incompetent boss

Everyone complains about his or her boss from time to time. In fact, some consider it a national workplace pastime. But there's a difference between everyday griping and stressful frustration, just as there is a clear distinction between a manager with a few flaws and one who is incompetent. Dealing with the latter can be anguishing and taxing. But with the right mindset and a few practical tools, you can not only survive but flourish.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

2011-11-19T09:33:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Language

"Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all." - Winston Churchill

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Never Ask 'Does That Make Sense?

Just as a chef is attuned to the subtleties of flavor and trends in the culinary arts, a presentation coach is attuned to the subtleties of language and trends in the communication art. One trend I've noted recently is the expression, "Does that make sense?" often used by a speaker during a conversation — or a presenter during a presentation — to check whether the listener or audience has understood or appreciated what the speaker has just said. Unfortunately, the expression has two negative implications:
• Uncertainty on the part of the speaker about the accuracy or credibility of the content
• Doubt about the ability of the audience to comprehend or appreciate the content.

Read on

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MANAGING & USING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, Authors : KERI E. PEARLSON, CAROL S SAUNDERS

2011-11-18T09:22:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Relationship

"No road is long with good company." - Turkish Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Relationship you Need to get Right

Katharine, a senior HR executive at a global financial services firm, takes pride in developing rising stars. After a vice president on one of her teams consistently impressed her, she recommended him for a more challenging role in another part of the company. Months later Katharine heard through the grapevine that he was struggling in the job. She asked to meet with him. “You know we’re in this together, right?” she said. “I put my reputation on the line, but I have no idea how you’re performing and whether you need help or air cover.” He promised to keep her in the loop, but communication dropped off again. Katharine realized that his commitment to the firm, and to her, had waned. She met with him once more and told him she could no longer be his sponsor.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Economic reforms and growth in India : essays from economic and political weekly / Pulapre Balakrishnan

2011-11-17T10:20:00.001+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live." - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Secret Payoff of Meetings

No one is more surprised about that than me. I've had days when I was in meetings from the moment I walked into the office until the moment I left. I've opened Outlook some days and wanted to pull my hair out at the day set out before me. I've had to run from one meeting to another because Outlook stupidly allows people to schedule meetings back to back without even 3 minutes to get from one room to another. I have not been a fan of meetings.

But after being an employee for 24 continuous years, I've struck out on my own as a freelancer to try to have more balance in my life. But as I'm settling into new routines and trying to find new mechanisms to keep my day productive, I've come to appreciate many things about my previous life that used to frustrate me. Those minutes at the beginning of a meeting when people are still assembling and the room is filled with light banter. The way someone can say something funny a few cubicles over and everyone starts to laugh. Monday mornings, learning what my colleagues were up to on the weekend, often living vicariously through them.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Economic reforms and growth in India : essays from economic and political weekly / Pulapre Balakrishnan

2011-11-16T09:16:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Business

"In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later." - Harold Geneen

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Fear that's Holding back your Business

I recently got a phone call asking about Mike, a grad student I'd hired for a video project last year. "You're listed as a reference," the woman on the line said. "Have you done business with him?" Indeed, Mike had done a great job for me — but had never followed up to tell me he'd launched his own business.

Too often, entrepreneurs or executives hesitate to reach out to others — even people who like them a lot. Sometimes it's because they don't want to be intrusive: "She's so busy, I don't want to bother her." Other times, they'll self-deprecate ("she won't remember me") or shrink from perceived conflict ("he'll be angry I want something from him"). Or they may take the "high road" and profess a distaste for self-promotion, vowing that their reputation will speak for itself and quality will eventually triumph. Unfortunately, those are all excuses: they're scared.

Read on

LATEST ARRIVALS

Economic reforms and growth in India : essays from economic and political weekly / Pulapre Balakrishnan

2011-11-15T09:20:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listening

"It is the province of knowledge to speak And it is the privilege of wisdom to listen." - Yin and Yang of Communication

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Keep Listening, but Start Talking

When we meet with prospective investors, I don't speak much, and for good reason. There are three founding partners: Clayton Christensen, Matt Christensen, and me. When Clay is in the room, people want to hear from him. He's not only the controlling shareholder of Rose Park Advisors; our investment approach is based on his theory of disruptive innovation. Next on deck is his son, Matt, the CEO and portfolio manager; then me.

In this particular context it makes sense that my partners do the lion's share of the talking, but I've noticed that even when circumstances don't require it, I'm sometimes reluctant to talk shop. One particular instance of this hesitation stands out in my mind: it occurred during a trip to Brazil back when I was a sell-side analyst. After a day of meetings, several buy-side investors (all men) and I were debriefing over dinner. When the conversation turned to America Movil (NYSE: AMX) a stock that I covered (in sell-side parlance I was widely considered the 'axe on the stock'), I began to demur, reluctant to share my opinion, despite my expertise in the subject. It felt like high school all over again, slipping into the adult equivalent of playing dumb.

Read on

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Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

2011-11-14T08:52:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Obsession

"Passion is a positive obsession. Obsession is a negative passion." - Paul Carvel

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Increase your Passion for Work without Becoming Obsessed

Work brings some people intrinsic joy. These people feel in control of their work, feel good about themselves while working, find their work to be in harmony with their other activities. Psychologists describe these folks as having harmonious passion. But there's another kind of passion: obsessive passion. Those who are obsessively passionate feel an uncontrollable urge to engage in their work, feel more conflict between their passion and other areas in their life, and their work forms a large part of their often unstable and negative self-concept.

In my last post, I summarized Robert J. Vallerand's distinction between obsessive passion and harmonious passion. In the comment thread that followed, I noticed a couple of questions emerge: Is obsessive passion ever helpful? What should you do if you recognize that your passion for work is not harmonious, but obsessive? I'll address both of those in this post.

Read on

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Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

2011-11-13T09:43:00.003+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Responsibility

"Take responsibility of your life because it will empower you to make changes." - Olabulo Sulaimon

TOPIC OF THE DAY

To Win Customers, Get Out of the Way

Superior operational excellence cannot be achieved or maintained with an iron fist. It needs to be organically grown and fostered throughout the company.

I oversee all aircraft, flight and customer service operations at Hawaiian Airlines. For any company, and especially any airline, operational excellence and customer service go hand in glove. I'm thankful that those I work with are predisposed to hospitality — it's a feature of Polynesian culture. But although our company has been known for its high standards of personal care for the past 82 years, we haven't always been known for our reliability. However, we are now routinely ranked first by the US Department of Transportation among all airlines for on-time performance and fewest cancellations as well as garnering top marks for best baggage handling and fewest customer complaints.

So how did we improve company operations, while maintaining the excellence in service that was already second nature? Through my experience, I believe a company must do three things especially well in order to maintain an unbeatable level of operational excellence: 1) Get very close to their customer; 2) Benchmark against itself on a consistent basis, and 3) Empower employees to address the unexpected.

Read on

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Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill

2011-11-12T10:35:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Customer Service

"In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want." - Alice MacDougall

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Don’t Mess with Your Customers

Everyone knows to keep customers happy. But far too many companies are still making them angry. Customer rage results in lawsuits, mass defections, and social media attacks. Here are three ways to prevent your customers from revolting:

Don’t squeeze them. Often a company’s most profitable customers have the most reason to be dissatisfied. Be sure that all of your customers feel the value they get is equal to what they pay.
Get rid of unnecessary rules. Eliminate rules that you want customers to violate (i.e., charging for ATM transactions). They make customers feel taken advantage of, and rightly so.
Rely on satisfaction, not contracts. If your customers are sticking around because of lengthy contracts, something’s wrong. Demonstrate confidence in your value proposition and give your customers good reasons not to defect.

Thought adopted from the "The Management Tip" blog posted on November 11, 2011

2011-11-11T09:24:00.000+05:30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Innovation

"We need innovation in education and dedication to the task before us." - Alan Autry

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Learn How to Think Different(ly)

In the Economist review of our book, The Innovator's DNA, the reviewer wondered whether genius-level innovators such as Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs challenge the idea that working adults can really learn how to think differently and become innovators.

We don't think so. Remember, it was Steve Jobs who jump-started the now-famous "Think Different" advertising campaign as a way to inspire consumers and recharge Apple's innovation efforts. It worked. Reflecting back on the campaign, Jobs said "The whole purpose of the 'Think Different' campaign was that people had forgotten what Apple stood for, including the employees." And the best way to tell people what Apple stood for was to tell them who the company's heroes were. The campaign reminded everyone — consumers and employees alike — that the "crazy ones...see things differently."

Read on

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Green IT for sustainable business practice : an ISEB foundation guide / Mark G. O'Neill