ramya bhaava chaitanyam

I’ve never been a die-hard fan of Sachin - e.g., I never walked away from TV when Sachin got out - my love was for the game of cricket and Sachin’s a part of that, and not the whole. Sachin’s significance for me was very different. As Sachin’s just one year younger than me, I’ve seen him as the representative of my generation of indians when he started playing for the country and succeeded. As a song in a popular telugu movie of 1993 said - “mana kannaa chinna vaallu, tendulkar manjrekarlu, lErA manak-example-u!”

In the initial years, it was inevitably Sanjay Manjrekar and Sachin Tendulkar who would rescue india with a wonderful partnership after the top collapsed. Of course, manjrekar is no longer on the scene; nor is vinod kambli. A lot have come and gone from the game but not Sachin. He has been the one constant.

Why am I thanking Sachin? For much more than cricket actually.

Firstly, for being such a wonderful example of successful people can and should stay humble and hungry. Most importantly though, for standing up tall yesterday and saying to the thugs of Raj Thackeray that “Mumbai belongs to all Indians. I am a Maharashtrian and am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first.” This is the first time I’ve seen Sachin make a comment connected to politics. He has in general stayed very clear of politics. But the fact that he has put his hand up and spoken against none other than the biggest goons in maharashtra politics today is really worth thanking. Thank you Sachin, for everything and this comment in particular!

It’s very important to recognize and appreciate good work so that we strengthen the hands of those few who eschew the easy but mediocre path and put in the hard work needed to do a good job. I’ve seen many friends complain about the state of journalism, esp. TV journalism in India. In that context, I would like to recognize India Today’s analysis of “State of States” as an example of how data-based approach to journalism (a la balanced scorecard approach in businesses) can throw the right light on state of affairs. TV news teams everywhere need to practice such methodology and eschew the broad generalizations in argumentative and shallow opinion based shows.

Coming to India Today’s analysis, I was pleasantly surprised to read the success stories from Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh. I’ve never been to both places - I would love to go to both these places. It was interesting to see that southern states such as Karnataka and Andhra where IT has created an economic boom are not really the leading lights when measured on a broad basis with objective criteria.

More than any thing else, I hope that this kind of analysis becomes main stream enough for politicians and bureaucrats to start measuring their performance in an objective way.

Found three interesting examples of management/planning (or the lack of them) in yesterday’s and today’s telugu newspaper (eenaadu):

• Food corporation of India’s warehouses in Andhra Pradesh are full as the wheat stored in there is yet to be distributed. This will mean farmers will find it difficult to sell this year’s kharif produce to millers who are obligated to sell a portion of their milled rice to FCI before they can sell the same in open market.
• Andhra Pradesh government over-estimated the revenue inflows and hence, is strapped of cash needed to pay its bills. At the same time, cabinet clears a Rs. 3 crore plan to build a memorial for the chief minister recently killed in an accident.
• AP Cabinet decides to increase the subsidy rice quota on ration cards only after the bogus cards are detected and cancelled. Understandable, isn’t it

When Obama asserted, “Yes, we can”, I wrote - I really hope “He can” and “They can”. I’m really sad that both Obama and america failed their first litmus test since then and showed once again that “they still cannot”.

Look at the latest incident of a very respected african-american Harvard professor arrested just because a white police officer felt he was offended by the tone of the professor’s voice. More shocking is the approval that police officer got from many americans, calling the police offer as some one just doing his job. What really sucks is the way Obama felt pressured and backtracked saying:

I actually just had a conversation with Sgt. Jim Crowley, the officer involved. And I have to tell you that, as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. And I told him that.

What nonsense! Come on president Obama! Please show some backbone in defense of justice. Why do you have to bow to the “we can never do any wrong” police in US? Why can’t you say,

“I think it’s worse than stupid,” said Mr. Medley, 65, the retired Chicago professor. “I think it was mean-spirited and ill-intended.”

America has a long, long way to go. I was and continue to be scared by their self-righteous attitude and belief that they can never be wrong in their judgment. Here are some quotes from the news stories related to this incident. I’m devastated reading such quotes.

“It seems to me that Dr. Gates was simply arrested for being upset, and he was arrested for being upset because he’s a black man,” said Wayne Martin, 25, an official at the Atlanta Housing Authority, who is also black.

“Wayne Martin is wondering when it became illegal to be angry at a law enforcement official.”

Mr. Vivian, 47, said that he had been unfairly stopped by the police in the past, but that he lived by “an unwritten code” for dealing with these incidents. And Dr. Gates certainly did not obey the code, he said.

Quiet politeness is Rule No. 1 in surviving an incident of racial profiling, he said. So is the frequent use of the word “sir.”

“People used to say, ‘Look, there’s a Colin Powell. There’s an Oprah Winfrey.’ Now they say, ‘There’s a black president.’ I say, I’m happy to see the exceptions. There’s always an exception. But I’m interested in how society treats the average person.”

Postscript 1: There used to be a prison near my home in avenel. I used to drive past it every day. The picture here doesn’t tell you how imposing it was. I used to dread being taken in there some day because of some stupid police officer’s mistaken logic. Thankfully, I’m now out of that police state!

Postscript 2: If you haven’t seen Crash (2004), you should.

It shows a white villainous police officer who molests a black woman right before the eyes of her husband in one scene become a genuine hero in a second scene, endangering his own life to save the life of the same lady he molested, and a helpless guy in the third, pleading with a black insurance agent to help pay for his dad’s health care. It shows how a well-meaning police officer ends up murdering an innocent black man because he is afraid that the latter may harm him. It shows with many may more examples how people have lost control over their own fate because of the way systems operate in america.

“nippulu chimmukunToo
nimgiki nE negiripOtE,
nibiDaaScharyamtO veeru

netturu kakkukumToo
nElaku nEraalipOtE
nirdaakshiNyamgaa veere”
- Sri Sri

All that I felt after reading Mr. Ramalinga Raju’s confession statement was sadness even though I work for a competitor of Satyam. No leader’s falling should be a cause for celebration, even by his/her competitors.

I’m dismayed by the amount of vitriol indian media has spewed on Mr. Raju. After all, he was one of the pioneers of the Indian IT industry; he took a high-tech services company from inception to a mammoth 50000+ people organization. Believe me, it’s no mean feat. Finding the customers, convincing them to win business, finding enough skilled people to successfully deliver, increasing the organization’s competency on a continuous basis every day - all these are incredibly challenging and Satyam did meet all these challenges on a large scale.

Who doesn’t make a mistake? Mr. Raju did a mistake too and it turned out to be a very bad mistake. But then, continuation of a mistake over years and years is definitely unacceptable. I’m sad for him - he did not have the courage to not make the mistake in the first place but he now found the courage to confess and push himself and his baby, Satyam, into the deepest abyss.

I just hope Satyam finds the right leader in this time of crisis, for,

• The number of employees who will be hurt otherwise is 50,000+
• Customers globally cannot be left in the lurch
• And finally, there is after all, still enough talent for business to be viable

A number of questions bother me.

• There is no independent verification of his confession - can be it a false confession? Could he not bear losing control of what he has built up painstakingly and hence, kill his own baby maliciously?
• Why did Mr. Raju confess now? May be he feared discovery once Satyam’s control passes into someone else’s hands but couldn’t he find any takers in a world where getting away with scams is not that difficult?
• Did Satyam doom itself by bidding at lower and lower rates, until there was no margin really left to operate with?
• Aren’t customers who drove Satyam to lower and lower rates (knowing very very well that it is nigh impossible to do reasonable business at such low rates) also responsible for the tragedy of Satyam? And if Satyam does die, aren’t overzealous procurement teams as much responsible as Satyam itself for the pain that such customers will entail?
• Didn’t the sales teams and business unit leaders at Satyam know what margins they are doing business at?
• Was Satyam driven to lower and lower rates because the management did not really have the self-belief needed to demand appropriate rates?
• Did Satyam sign on too many fixed-price contracts without being careful enough to understand the scope and estimate the costs to a reasonable degree?

Answers to these questions, as they unfold, will forever form the basis for a tragic but instructive case study.

The other day I wrote the phrase “handful of people” and a few hours later, it struck me that the phrase does not make sense? How can one count people by handfuls or fistfuls But you know what? The phrase is quite commonplace. Search google and you will find a large number of pages using the same phrase (I was tempted to write “tons of usage” ). Worse, webster uses the same phrase as an example.

Related reading: Checkout criticism of Friedman’s writing style

I can’t find a word for it in english - kakaavikalam is the word in telugu to describe my state as I watched terror unfold as horrifically as it did in mumbai last night. Senselessness and recklessness of terrorists shook me to the core. A part of me died as I saw dead bodies lying on the roads, people shot in chests getting shoved into vans, a cop pulling up the head of a dead terrorist so that media can photograph a face that’s dripping in blood, a man whose hand is dripping with blood - possibly from the grazing of a bullet - trying to get into a van hoping to reach a hospital but getting pushed out so that more critically wounded can be taken first, shocked commandos getting ferried in a van and staring puzzled at cameras and lights, foreigners who escaped from oberoi talking in frightened voices and wondering what else their india trip has in store for them, journalists getting shot themselves and not knowing what to reveal and what not as their live news reports may get used by the terrorists, hotel staff trying their best to still serve their guests even as terrorists shoot randomly in the hotels, and finally, terrorists - young people with sophisticated weapons behaving as if they are on a party with water guns - shooting people at random and using their brains to cause the maximum suffering - it was as if mumbai became what bagdhad has been for the last year or beirut for a long time.

How could this happen? It’s the result of a large number of system break downs - break downs like the one I experienced just yesterday morning - getting a photo voter id without being asked for any evidence what so ever - correcting my last name and date of birth without being asked for any proof there either and knowing that I can use a voter id obtained like that as proof enough to get a cell phone sim card and may be even gun licenses.

I left America about four years ago because I doubted its ability to look at itself, see the horrible things it’s really doing - the kind of horrors commonly described on Democracy Now!, hold itself accountable and reform.

I know - Obama seems like a guy who can change it - and I know - it’s not a good idea to doubt when someone says he stands for change, but then, I am now past 30 and those past 30 don’t believe others who are above 30! I’m serious. I remember how Obama distanced himself from his Pastor’s comments - comments that referred to the horrors in America, the horrors created by America and the lies America tells itself and the world. I thought back then Obama was no different.

I am hoping there’s a small difference though. For some reason, I feel he knows the truth - he may have been afraid to say it when he’s up for an election but now that he got elected, I hope he’ll be lot more upfront. He has a tough job but I hope he’s up to it. Equally importantly, if he’s up to it, I hope the rest of America has the capacity to understand him and do the right thing - not the “right thing”, i mean the right thing.

Obama’s refrain in his acceptance speech yesterday was “Yes we can!” I hope, “he can” and “they can”.

I completed reading Go Kiss The World and enjoyed the second half much more than the first. Here are excerpts from the parts I really liked in the second half.

Chapter 11: Winning the Mind Game

Joining a large organization with its own distinctive culture midway in the life of the organization is always fraught with uncertainty for any outsider. It requires an unusual amount of involvement by senior management to help the person succeed in the new environment. … you see many stars brought into an organization in positions of importance unable to perform after a while and no one quite knows why. … In part, the incumbents bring the problem with themselves. When people make mid-career changes, I always hear them ask for a job that impacts corporate strategy, … and hair-splitting on the exact nature of the job. No one says, ‘Give me the challenge of a tough, dirty and strategic role that no one is willing to take, something that may be keeping the CEO awake at night.’ But when your outlook changes from ‘What is good for me’ to ‘Where is the organization hurting and how can I make a difference’, your professional landscape changes.

Chapter 16: The Entrepreneur as Leader

Many of us excel as first-rate line managers. Then comes an assignment that calls not just for functional expertise; it requires the capability to make an impact without necessarily having the authority. Such assignments require bringing about change in people’s ways of doing things; to achieve this you need someone with a sense of history. Only such a person who understands the existential issues, the challenges, and the larger purpose for the changes being made. These are individuals who create a vision for their people and move them out of their zone of comfort to try new things. Only those who have a sense of history can create future. This, as a key job requirement, is seldom understood by people who choose staff for assignments that need large-scale change management.

…

A great leader has the capability to attract and retain talent that is better than him in many aspects.

…

When we we look to hire people, we invariably look for sameness. It is so much more comfortable. But progress requires intelligent friction, push back, points and healthy counterpoints. The job of leaders is to build high personal comfort with contrarians who think differently, create alternative points of view and have the power to question the state of things.

Chapter 20: Leadership in a Time of Crisis

Faced with a crisis, the job of a leader is to take charge and broadcast his or her intent. … In the middle of adversity, a leader must see what can be saved and what must be given up. Everything during such a period is negotiable.

Chapter 24: Life’s Personal Angels

… consequence of our choices are indeed our own responsibility.

…

In nature, you work until it is time to say goodbye. In life, too many people look at work as a burden, some consider it a curse. If we do not work, what would we do with our able body and mind?…We do not realize how lucky we are to be able to get up in the morning and go some place where work awaits us.

…

In the journey called life, as we are engulfed in the everyday grind, chasing our own successes and trying to survive the failures, we constantly look for the golden formula. There is, in reality, no golden formula, just a set of lessons.”

Chapter 25: Go Kiss the World

… everything begins in the mind as an idea, a dream. If we believe in the idea strongly enough and are willing to give it our very best, everything is possible. It is our conviction that breathes life into an idea and makes it a living thing.

…

The power to receive is far more important than the power to give. … The input from the two parents remaining the same, the output can be vastly different.

…

We need to develop an expansive view of life; we need to believe that there is more in it for everyone if everyone is involved and benefits. Leaders must develop a mindset of abundance, not scarcity, as they build their organizational vision.

…

…nothing is a given, there is no such thing as a status quo. … Leaders must look at things as they are, not as we wish they should have been. While a leader’s job is to alter the reality, he cannot begin by looking at life with an altered reality.

…

…over achievement comes with a price tag. If not handled well, there is a danger that things will spin out of control at the very height of your professional career for reasons that often beat common sense.

…

Focus on the issues that that fall in the overlap of your zone of concern and zone of influence. Concern without influence is of no use.

…

Passion to me is what passion does. Too many people know what is wrong with the world. Their knowledge and intensity do not matter. What matters is making a small but real difference. That is why the Mahatma said, ‘Be the change you want to see’.

…

Remember the day in your life when you received a hefty and unexpected pay rise? How long did that pleasurable feeling last? What happened after that? Money is important in life but the not the source of any lasting happiness.

…

There will be moments when you feel you are at crossroads; times when you question the very meaning of life and the existence of god. You are not the only one to feel this way. It is a rite of passage. People who create great impact suffer from moments of great soul-searching. In itself, it is a good sign …

Epilogue

… making it in life is not about material benefits and carving individual success; it is about moving from brightness to greater brightness, while taking people along.

I’m only through 2/3rds of the recent “Go kiss the world” book (link to video intro) by Subroto Bagchi, Mindtree’s founder. The book is basically an auto-biography but what made it interesting for me is the abstraction at the end of each chapter where the author tries to reflect on what that part of his life can teach every young professional. I really liked some of these sections and wanted to share them with you. Here are a few - I will share more later.

Prologue

At the source of a river, we have no idea of the path it will take to reach its confluence. Yet, I meet countless young professionals anxious about picking the right job and the right company, overplanning their careers. Their usual refrain is: … “What will I be, what will I be?”. They overlook the importance of the smallest of jobs and forget that in our early lives, the job in itself is immaterial. What is material is the work ethic we build. Your first, the second, and even perhaps the third job will not build or define your career; the respect, patience, affection and gratitude with which you treat them will.

… more than just living your life, the capacity to behold it is even more beautiful.

Chapter 1: Displacement and Progress

… quite often displacement is the key to progress, and we need to develop comfort with it. …

… Many professionals shudder at the thought of physical displacement, yet crave rapid mobility and growth in their careers. …

When you are continuously displaced, you make friends easily. You have low expectations from the unfamiliar; hence you are more pleasantly surprised than frustrated when faced with life’s many ups and downs.

Chapter 3: Grace under Pressure

There are inevitable times in every life when we all must step on a thorn. It is never a pleasurable feeling, it is not meant to be. … “Why me?” question. In the larger scheme of things, that question is as irrelevant as the pain itself. All of us realize this sooner or later. What many of us do not comprehend is the futility of carrying the baggage of that pain into our future. … if I begin to blame the thorn, the pain has a tendency to linger; sometimes the pain expands as time passes, its memory holding centre stage, colouring how we view and feel about our lives. In life, we cannot avoid pain. What we can do is learn from the pain and move on.

Chapter 4: The Power of Mentoring

I count my blessings for the early-life influences …

… As we get on with the concrete business of life, we lose our capacity to receive from people. The capacity to receive asks for humility. Humility makes the mind an empty vessel that then can receive. The capacity to receive expands when there is the willingness to give back - only when we return what we receive, are we blessed to receive even more.

Chapter 8: In the path of Jupiter

… Living things are characterized by their capacity to remember. … few understand that we are not only capable of creating memories of our past, we can actually create memories of the future. … even when we are faced with seemingly unfamiliar situations in life and make choices that seem to come from nowhere, in reality, they stem from memories of future.

[My take: I read “memories of the future” as the “vision we see for ourselves”]

Chapter 9: Learning to Fly

I began to realize the importance of writing in my regular work as well. Communication is a key requirement to be an effective leader in a large organization. Those who write well, learn to synthesize their ideas better; it makes them better thinkers. Leaders who generate content even as they perform their work, help their organizations learn. They are able to create alignment with larger groups of people within and inclusion with the world outside. Affection for content helps to build and disseminate points of view effectively. Like a sport, writing requires cultivation over a long period of time and can become a fulfilling occupation.

[My take: While this is my favorite idea/talking point , I think the author is over-stating the case. It definitely helps to reflect and write. Content generation is very important too. But I’ve seen a few people succeed without generating much written content - that’s because they are incredibly sharp and focus on real goals rather than content. In general though, importance of content generation needs emphasis given how rarely it occurs in most orgs]

Chapter 14: Learning to Listen

… my360-degree feedback … upset me greatly and I went to see Dr Mitta about it. … he told me that we live in a world where perception is reality. And that it takes time for perception to build up. So, the solution for me was to go back and do my work but be aware of my actions and what I said.

I took his advice to heart, and did all that he had advised with care. Next year, I received the same feedback from some peers. This time I was devastated. Once again I expressed my frustration to Dr Mitta. … told me, ‘While it takes time to build perceptions, it takes even longer for perceptions to change.’ … we should not expect people to change what they think of us overnight. This should not cause us to lose spirit - …