Hiring Smart People... dont strip them of their originality

Very well said. Most of the times,  we hire smart people and then mold them to our ways, our culture and stifle them and strip them of their originality. The same is true of mergers & acquisition. We acquire a company because we see a value in them but after acquiring them, we stifle them and strip them of their value in our quest to integrate them into our organisation.

Brain over labour

Brilliant story....

A giant ship engine failed.
The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could
figure but how to fix the engine.
Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a
young.
He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he
immediately went to work.
He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would
know what to do.
After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out
a small hammer.
He gently tapped something.
Instantly, the engine lurched into life.
He carefully put his hammer away.
The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old
man for ten thousand dollars.
"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"
So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."
The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer........ $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap........ $ 9,998.00

Moral of the story:
Effort is important, But knowing where to make an effort in your life makes
all the difference.

Business Sutra - An India Model of Management

In his landmark book, best-selling author, leadership coach and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik hows how, despite its veneer of objectivity, modern management is rooted in Western beliefs and obsessed with accomplishing rigid objectives and increasing shareholder value. By contrast, the Indian way of doing business-as apparent in Indian mythology, but no longer seen in practice- 
accommodates subjectivity and diversity, and offers an inclusive, more empathetic way of 
achieving success. Great value is placed on darshan, that is, on how we see the world and 
our relationship with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

Business Sutra uses stories, symbols and rituals drawn from Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology to understand a wide variety of business situations that range from running a successful tea stall to nurturing talent in a large multinational corporation. At the heart of the book is a compelling premise: if we believe that wealth needs to be chased, the workplace becomes a ranga-bhoomi-a playground where everyone is happy.

Brilliantly argued, original and thoroughly accessible, Business Sutra presents a radical and nuanced approach to management, business and leadership in a diverse, fast- changing, and increasingly polarized world.

English isnt easy

Anyone who enjoyed George Carlin will enjoy this!  English language isn't the easiest language to figure out.

The English Plural According to....

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.

We take English  for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,
What do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speakingEnglish
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

We ship by truck but send cargo by ship...
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And in closing..........

If Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop????

Two sides of the same coin

A famous writer was in his study room. He picked up his pen and started writing:

**Last year, I had a surgery and my gall bladder was removed. I had to stay stuck to the bed due to this surgery for a long time.
**The same year I reached the age of 60 years and had to give up my favourite job. I had spent 30 years of my life in this publishing company.
**The same year I experienced the sorrow of the death of my father.
**And in the same year my son failed in his medical exam because he had a car accident. He had to stay in bed at hospital with the cast on for several days. The destruction of car was another loss. 

At the end he wrote: Alas! It was such bad year!! 

When the writer's wife entered the room, she found her husband looking sad lost in his thoughts. From behind his back she read what was written on the paper. She left the room silently and came back with another paper and placed it on side of her husband's writing.
When the writer saw this paper, he found this written on it:

**Last year I finally got rid of my gall bladder due to which I had spent years in pain.
**I turned 60 with sound health and got retired from my job. Now I can utilize my time to write something better with more focus and peace.
**The same year my father, at the age of 95, without depending on anyone or without any critical condition met his Creator.
**The same year, God blessed my son with a new life. My car was destroyed but my son stayed alive without getting any disability.
At the end she wrote: 

This year was an immense blessing of God and it passed well!!

See!!

The same incidents but different viewpoints. If we ponder with this viewpoint that what could have happened more, we would truly become thankful to the Almighty.

In daily lives we must see that its not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy. There is always, always, always something to be thankful for. 

Is the Trainee Responsible or the Organisation

A young lady trainee HR reply to the candidate regrets  that we do not hire Non-(specific religion). A FIR is lodged in mumbai police yesterday. Head HR writes back and try to clearly the contents and admit the error of lady trainee .

-it is academic question for all of us , who shall be held responsible for this crime , young lady HR trainee , head HR or the organisation.

Since it is a criminal complaint,  it would require,  proving the offense without element of doubt. The management will defend saying that she was trainee and did not have the know how of the policies.  Also that she was not authorized to write back on behalf of the company.

In my view a criminal liability in this case would be difficult to prove, but yes a civil liability and claim for damages could be sustainable.

As per vicarious liability it is organisation on whose behalf the lady trainee responded. However internally organisation can take action against lady trainee that why did she reply
like this on her own without such a company policy.

A day in the life of HR

The Human Resources Department plays a very influential role in most organisations today. A good HR Leader act as a good Business Partner and help organisation & its stake holders fullfill its ambitions. However not many in the organisation buy that argument. For many a employee HR is about Recruitment (Hiring), Payroll, Training & Firing. They often tend to view HR with skepticism and many a times HR is the butt of all conversations.

Here is one such

You ought to believe that there is a solution for every problem

A very interesting Management lesson

A father left 17 Camels as an Asset for his Three Sons. When the Father passed away, his sons opened up the will.

The Will of the Father stated that the Eldest son should get Half of 17
Camels, The Middle Son should be given 1/3rd of 17 Camels, Youngest Son should be given 1/9th of the 17 Camels,

As it is not possible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the sons started to fight with each other.

So, they decided to go to a wise man.

The wise man listened patiently about the Will. The wise man, after giving
this thought, brought one camel of his own & added the same to 17. That
increased the total to 18 camels.

Now, he started reading the deceased father’s will.

Half of 18 = 9.
So he gave 9 camels
to the eldest son.

1/3rd of 18 = 6.
So he gave 6 camels
to the middle son.

1/9th of 18 = 2.
So he gave 2 camels
to the youngest son.

Now add this up:
9 + 6 + 2 = 17 &
This leaves 1 camel,
which the wise man took back.

MORAL: The attitude of negotiation & problem solving is to find the 18th
camel i.e. the common ground. Once a person is able to find the common
ground, the issue is resolved. It is difficult at times.

However, to reach a solution, the first step is to believe that there is a
solution. If we think that there is no solution, we won’t be able to reach
any!

There is a value in each one of us - it just needs to be unearthed....

A very inspiring article worth reading:

Once there was a man who did not make it to university. So, his mother got
him a wife. After the marriage, he worked as a teacher in a primary school.
Due to the lack of experience, he was squashed by the students in less than
a week.

When he returned home,  his wife dried his tears. She comforted him with
these words. 'When one is too full, he could either pour it out what's in
him or he just could not pour it out at all. You should not be too sad
about it. Probably there is a more suitable job waiting for you out there.'

Later on, he found another job and not for so long, he was fired due to his
slowness. This time, the wife commented. 'There are always people who are
skilful and non skilful. Some have experience from their years of work. As
for you,  you were in school all this while. So, how could you acquire
these needed skills?'

He went for a number of jobs but never stayed long in those jobs. Each
time,  he would return home with a dejected spirit. His wife would always
comfort him and never for once, she was disappointed or resentful.

He was in his thirties when he aquired a flair in languages.  He became a
counselor in a school for the deaf and mute. Later on,  he opened a school
for the disabled. A few years later, he set up chain stores in different
cities and provinces selling apparatus & equipment for the disabled. He
became a multi-millionaire. He was John Doe!

One day he asked his wife. 'When I was looking bleak at my own future,
what's the reason that you have so much faith in me?'

His wife gave him a very simple reply.  She said, 'When a piece of land is
not suitable for planting wheat, we could try planting beans. If the beans
are not growing well,  we could try planting fruits or gourds. If the
vegetation is not economical,  we can instead scatter buckwheat seeds.
These seeds will one day bloom into flowers. On this land itself, there
will be one seed that will germinate and grow.'

After having listened to the wife's explanation, he cried.  His wife's
faith, love, patience, and persistence in him is liken to the one seed in
the land. This is the seed that persists and creates the miracle on this
piece of land.

"In this world,  there's no one person who is useless. It is just that they
need to get positioned themselves firmly in right place"

Leadership lessons from Cricket Australia

With its recent win at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Australia has yet again proven that a team that has drive, discipline and focus can resurrect itself from the Ashes (pun intended) and go on to regain their title of world champions. Known to be one of the strongest teams in the world of cricket, Australia saw an exceptionally low phase between 2011 and 2013, where they suffered some humiliating defeats. Starting with the 2013-14 Ashes series against England, the world saw Australia slowly get back into form. They played as a team with a clear goal to win. 
  
There are a few lessons that professionals can learn from Australia’s World Cup win this year.
  
Leadership 
A leader’s job is to provide guidance and support to build their team’s confidence. For Australia, the strong leadership of coach, Darren Lehmann and captain, Michael Clarke has been nothing short of spectacular. They brought stability and innovation to game tactics and team organisation. The duo’s key priority was to get the best out of the team to help improve their performance and achieve results. They provided their team with guidance and support needed to grow as players. They have gone from boosting the morale of under performing players to driving the best performers to push limits and do even better.  
  
Passion 
Passion can move teams beyond their shortcomings and failures. When you are passionate about your goals, you will strive harder to reach them. The biggest reason for the Australian Cricket team’s success is their passion for the game of cricket and their conviction and clarity with respect to what they want to achieve and where they want to be. At the end of the day, it is passion that helps one make the transition from good to better and to best thereon.  
  
Discipline 
Be it on-field or off-field, we can be sure of success only if we persist on being focused and disciplined. The Australian team succeeded because they lay huge emphasis on discipline to maximise their potential. Success is derived not just from talented individuals but from the organisation of these talented individuals into a team. Lehmann has played a pivotal role by giving his team clarity on where each player’s focus should lie against every team they play.   
  
Strategy 
Winning is all about strategizing well. Success is impossible to achieve on sheer luck without any strategy in place. Australia’s rise in cricket began in the 1980s with the Australian Cricket Board’s decision to put a winning team in place. Once chosen, players were allowed to mature by giving them chance. This, in turn, helped build a cohesive team. In the present team, Michael Clarke has led an example by not focusing on losses but instead has looked at long term development. He did this by bringing out the best in people like Mitchell Johnson who were low on confidence and making them step up and take charge. 
  
Teamwork 
The Australian Cricket team is well-known for playing as a team and balancing off each other’s strengths. Individual players’ efforts to try to win the team their league match against New Zealand was commendable. Australia may have lost that particular match but not before showing the world the famed specimen of their teamwork. Where the batsmen failed to leave a mark, their bowlers pitched in to try and save the day. In the corporate world, it is a known and well-proven fact that while individual performance does matter and is appreciated, there is nothing like teamwork to go that extra mile to achieve organisational goals. 
  
Sports and corporate life have strong parallels and it is for professionals to take lessons out of everyday life to become masters of their professional lives.