People at Work & Play

A few years ago, here in India, the “low cost” airline made headlines every day. Here was a new business with ripe pickings, everyone said as one company after another joined the fray. They based their investments on a growing population with high aspirations. The first time flier increased by leaps and bounds. Many a story went around about how the hick behaved on his/her first flight. The traffic at the airports for domestic flights ballooned month after month.- and I am not just talking of the motor traffic which led to perpetual jams outside these airports. Everyone seemed to be happy- the airlines, the passengers and the Government which got its share of the kitty through taxes.

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The Fourth of July is a day of celebration in the United States because that is the day the US achieved Independence in 1776. For me too it’s a day of celebration. It was on this day 5 years ago that I took what for me was a momentous decision- to quit smoking. It was by no means easy since I had been a smoker for 35 years.

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As a business executive are you facing problems of doing business in India due to demands made by corrupt officials? As a citizen, is it becoming impossible to get what you are supposed to be getting anyway without having to pay a bribe? I am sadly not surprised at all to read that India’s poorest paid over Rs. 800 crore as bribes. This to get basic services one would expect as citizens of a democratic nation. The India Corruption Study makes for sad reading.

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Mobile handsets are perhaps one of the most sought after consumer goods in India today. There is one to suit every need and every pocket. Leading the way, by far, is Nokia with about 62 % of the market share. Over the last decade or so, Nokia - the world’s largest handset maker- has become one of India’s biggest brands. It was rated the most trusted brand in the Economic Times Brand Equity Survey.

In this context, it is interesting to read an interview in the Economic Times with Nokia’s President & CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. He talks of future trends, how consumers determine product features, Nokia’s positive experience in assembling operations in India and how segmentation is essential to stay profitable even in a high growth market.

Hear it from the Nokia chief and stay connected.

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This is Post No: 211  of the “A Step A Day” series : To provide perspective and provoke thought to facilitate self-development across a wide spectrum of issues- big and small- crucial for executive success

To move away from the large corporation you founded and nurtured over the years to a future in philantrophy is a challenge that very few people would choose to take. Yet, one of the biggest names in business has just done so. He is William Henry Gates III, known the world over simply as Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft and estimated to be the third richest person in the world.

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In a recent conversation, an employee complained bitterly to me about how frustrated he was in an organisation he had joined with a lot of enthusiasm- a little less than a year ago.  He mentioned that in reality that organisation was very, very different from the one he imagined it to be. He regretted having given up his previous job and was already looking out frantically for a change.

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Thanks to Marci Alboher’s Shifting Careers blog in the New York Times, I came across Venkat Rao’s Ribbonfarm.com. I liked the simple yet very effective drawings that Venkat puts up to illustrate his points. The one regarding the evolution of work-life patterns is worth seeing.

I guess the extent to which we allow either the “work” aspects or the “life” aspects to dominate our lives is really left up to us. I say so because the mythical balance can come about only through making the right choices to meet our needs. I realize too that this balance changes dynamically at different stages of our career/life. What was awfully important to me 25 years ago, doesn’t seem to be a major draw just now. Likewise, what I looked at with scorn 25 years ago is, I am afraid, becoming awfully important to me now.

Like I hope to do, plan to visit Ribbonfarm.com from time to time to catch up with Venkat’s thoughts….and drawings.

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This is Post No: 208 of the “A Step A Day” series : To provide perspective and provoke thought to facilitate self-development across a wide spectrum of issues- big and small- crucial for executive success

To many of us who grew up in the first thirty years of India’s independence, Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw was a major hero. We mourn his passing away at the ripe old age of 94. He was the Chief of Army Staff during the Indo-Pak War of 1971 and led India to its greatest military victory after Independence. This war resulted in the creation of a new nation- Bangla Desh.

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For an economy to develop, one would expect employment to grow not just in the larger cities but in smaller towns as well. A constraint in many big cities has been the scarcity of skilled people- across different types of jobs. Some organisations have taken the plunge by going to smaller towns and opening up employment opportunities - not just for the men there but for women as well. Read the rest of this entry »

To millions of us in India, quite possibly the biggest event in international cricket was India’s winning the Prudential World Cup at Lord’s, June 25, 1983.  Exactly 25 years later, we still remember that historic photo of Kapil Dev holding aloft the World Cup.

Today the whole country rejoices at that feat. We look back with great pride at an event which clearly shaped the future of Indian cricket.

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