New age Shopping

When I look back to my childhood I can see a sea change the way we buy things today. As a kid I use to go with my parents to grocery stores to buy things. Imported stuff was a BIG no and difficult to buy in those times. My dad booked a scooter in 1974 and he got it in 1983. Cars were very few and only rich and affluent could afford them. Even our houses and infrastructure in vicinity where middle class use to habitat was not designed for it in 1970's colonies. During 80's sometimes we had to stand in queues to get basic essentials like cooking oil and milk. Very hard to imagine in today's time when things are available on just click of a button. Being a Generation Y kid, I had the luxury of observing both Generation X and Generation Z. In today's world when I look back, I can surely say that we have come a long way in the way shop today. Companies are using much more intelligence in determining the consumption patterns in different consumer segments, especially the players who operate online. Our preferences, choices, searches are stored and we see ads based on our history of browsing through the net. Internet started when I was in college and it become a revolution till a graduated and become a part of workforce. Dotcom bubble started to inflate and in busted in 2-3 years. Now I think it failed then because It was something which happened ahead of the time. Economy, people, internet service providers and to some extent internet security infrastructure was not ready for such a big boom. Boom is happening today in a much bigger way where people are buying more stuff through their smart phones or tablets than using a computer. It is a blessing in disguise for the online companies those operate in India, Thanks to poor infrastructure and bad traffic conditions where people in cities and remote places prefer to buy online rather than visiting a store.

I see bright future of online shopping as my nephews and nieces are very inclined to it and most of the times their preference is to shop online rather than going through the traditional route. Thanks to speed of internet, adaptability of people. I believe this is only the starting we have very exciting times ahead of us.        

Building Highly Motivated Collaborative teams

In today's world where innovative companies strive hard to find right mix of appropriate talent to execute their business plans,Talent acquisition, development  and retention becomes extremely critical. Though, most of us who work in managing teams at Program or Portfolio level think that this is primary responsibility of human capital in the company. But, retention and development should be driven in a top to bottom approach. Below are few things those I have learnt by interacting and collaborating with teams.

1)Encourage Collaboration: Each individual is unique and has different passions. If you have experience in managing large teams you would agree that there are multiple groups or teams based on common interests. Professional relationships often begin because individuals who work in the same place have a lot in common. It’s easy to relate to someone  who shares your values and passions. Collaborators are typically more productive and are less inclined to look elsewhere for employment.
2)Know your team: As a manager you need to assure you maximize performance and results, you must make the time to get to know your team and encourage camaraderie.  Embracing differences and helping your team members irrespective of their background and geographies help in building global teams. Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Warren Buffet know exactly what buttons to push and when to push them.  They are experts at activating the talent that surrounds them.  Fully knowing your team means that you have invested the time to understand how they are wired to think and what is required to motivate them to excel beyond what is expected from them.Think of your team as puzzle pieces that can be placed together in a variety of ways to solve for complex business challenges.
3)Appreciate Innovation: You should always appreciate out of box ideas and create environment that enhances innovation. As a leader you should value creative thinking, unique solutions, and new ideas. Reward people who take reasonable risks to make improvements in your current processes and keen to walk in that extra mile. Building an ecosystem conducive for innovation is difficult but if you are able to challenge your folks in right way then they themselves are capable of building partnerships and teams on their own. 
4)Reward & Recognition: Always take the time to give your team members accolades they have earned by demonstrating exemplary work . A thoughtful leader always reassures that his team gets genuine recognition and respect which goes a long way towards building loyalty and trust. When people are acknowledged, their work brings them greater satisfaction and becomes more purposeful. 

aamir "The King Khan"

aamir has proved yet again that he is the original "King Khan" by his movie "Talaash". Although, the movie is a suspense thriller meant for an engaging experience. But, it is not comparable to his earlier masterpieces like "Taare Zameen Par", "3 Idiots" or "Dil chahta hai". Honestly, I was expecting more from him this time as well. Nevertheless, it was a delight to watch him in the movie. All the characters played their bit and were able to create a captivating experience for the watchers. Its a very good story with relatively weak screenplay. Mr perfectionist should direct his films by himself. Though, I was able to crack the suspense plot before it gets revealed in the movie. Yet, I would recommend everyone to go for this movie at least once.

IT Talent pool in India

Guys, I wanted to share my experience of recruiting IT talent for the projects been developed at offshore location in India. Though, I have been quite a regular Interviewer from last 5-6 years conducting those technical & aptitude rounds yet, I have realized due to recession market is flooded with new starters, amateur programmers but majority of them lack in the depth of both hard and soft skills. This is a worrying & mind blogging truth, I think this is an aftermath of 10-12 years of bulk outsourcing deals dumped in offshore locations by big companies  that we are producing only copy cats & brain dead crammers. Most of the candidates can give answers for syntactical issues , But would give you very bad choice of solving real life problems. I can't comment for senior levels as I haven't done recruitment for that level, But problem is huge in hiring at entry to middle level. . In my opinion, we have to equally blame ourselves, educational system & institutes for such a mess. Education system only has examination part in place as we have most difficult examination system in the world for Engineering grads but we seriously lag in providing good education. Nowadays ,Private institutes have nice air conditioned buildings but they produce very few or no research work, white papers, In the name of industry interface they ask students to themselves find companies for summer trainings. Most of the outsourcing companies are also busy in getting small-large outsourcing deals to keep their pipeline flowing and living on QoQ basis without planning long term careers & nurturing its employees. Situation can get worse in the years to come when we would start facing shortages of talent for both exports & internal consumption unless we do a complete overhaul to the system.

Kudos to PM Manmohan

PM has shown his commitment to this country at last by making tough decisions and promising to go down fighting. Well! that's the Manmohan whom we know and was missing in the arena from past 2 years. Leading spineless, toothless govt, suffering from scams & policy paralysis. He is the same guy who put his govt in trouble in favor of Nuke deal during 2008. Its always good to see an intellectual, soft spoken gentleman showing his intent & resolve in such difficult times. FDI in retail would open floodgates of investment as this is the largest democratic economy having 1.2 billion consumers. With farmers and industrialists it would also give less educated rural youth an opportunity to participate in India's growth story. Often such decisions invite criticism in country like India where you have different demographics & multiple stakeholders. Lets wait and see how does it pans out in the years to come. So far, I have not seen any constructive criticism from left, NDA or communist parties on its merit & demerits. They only demonize everything good or bad happening in this country.Its our bad fate that opposition in our system wants to pull the ruling party down by hook or crook.

My experiments with truth

As rightly said by wise men that life is nothing but those experiments with truth. Lately for past 6 months I have been strictly doing these experiments both in personal and professional life. Though, it seems to be a difficult path but honestly, it is not that difficult. It gives me the mental peace and the high which I could otherwise can't even dream off. My sleep has reduced from 7-8 hours to 6 hours and I feel very energetic and fresh. The simple deal is Me lord "Mein Sirf sach kahoonga aur sach ke alawa kuch bhi nahee kahoonga."  Who says Gandhian leadership can't work in corporate world. I 'am a firm believer he was the best leader our country has ever produced. His theories and philosphies will keep on enlightening our paths in the the times to come.