20 Saturday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day, Executive Effectiveness
To most computer users Intel is a company we know of for the chips they develop which keeps our machines going. Indeed, “Intel Inside” has become a well known brand campaign. One man who can be justifiably proud today- and in turn we are proud of him and his team in Bengaluru, India- is Praveen Vishakantaiah.
19 Friday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day
While some firms -like Lehman Brothers, for example-were in the news for the wrong reasons last week, an industry which perked up was the business of headhunting. I am sure many headhunters see huge opportunities rather unexpectedly. As uncertainty prevails in several industries, many employees are very suddenly faced with the prospect of looking for another job- when that was the last thing on their minds, even as less as a month ago.
18 Thursday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day, Books and Authors
We live in an era of instant gratification. Everything we want needs to be given us. Now. At the same time the world around us is changing rapidly. What was effective yesterday, doesn’t seem to necessarily work today. In this milieu, amongst a myriad of self -help books, one that stands out in my mind is a slim volume by Denis Waitley called “Empires Of The Mind ” As the blurb says it contains ” Lessons to lead and succeed in a Knowledge-based world”.
17 Wednesday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day
For the last few days, one name is making waves for the wrong reasons in business circles- Lehman Brothers , which was compelled to declare bankruptcy. A development that no one would have foreseen a few months ago.. The impact of the bad news in Lehman has impacted people in different parts of the globe in many ways. In Mumbai, India employees of the Lehman BPO ( about 1500-1700) have reportedly been asked to look for alternate employment next month. In the US, it appears that Barclays may be interested in buying up some parts of Lehman like the North American investment banking and capital markets business for $250 million in cash.
16 Tuesday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day
With connectivity being so easily available today, an explosive trend worldwide is that of setting up shop for yourself as an independent consultant/freelancer. This is not restricted to the more developed countries but is seen increasingly in developing countries as well. The percentage of those who are self-employed as consultants is shooting up across the globe. They engage in fields ranging from law, medicine, human resources or accounting. What attracts people to becoming consultants in the first place?
15 Monday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day
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If someone were to have told you a year ago that Lehman Brothers would file for bankruptcy in the foreseeable future, you would think the guy was nuts. After all it was one of the world’s venerable financial services firms- having stood strong through rough weather many times in its 158 year old history.
14 Sunday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day
Almost everyone knows of mentoring and the advantages one gains from the mentoring process. But reverse mentoring? In this process, the mentor is not one of your usual more experienced, more senior kind of persons- but anyone who has more knowledge and skill in the particular area than the person that needs to be mentored. Technology is the best example where the rate of change is so fast that experienced people have obsolescence as their greatest enemy. They often have to learn about new technologies from their team members who are much younger than them. Continue reading
13 Saturday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day
The title of the article caught my eye. ” Measuring The Value And Impact of Executive Coaching”. An issue that concerns every executive coach. What is the gain to their clients? More specifically, what is their return on investment (ROI)? A survey by the Human Capital Institute and DBM, a global career management and coaching firm estimated that as many as 60 percent of American companies use the services of executive coaches and, according to a 2007 study of 472 company representatives from a cross-section of industries, most (78 percent) consider coaching an effective way to develop leaders.
12 Friday Sep 2008
Posted in A Step A Day
“The best part of the process is that I now know where exactly I went wrong. And, of course the good news is that I know exactly what I did well”. said Rajesh Biswas ( the name used is fictitious) a senior executive in a fast moving consumer goods organisation when we were having a coaching review. The process he was referring to is called by many names: some call it a “Reflective Journal” others a ” Coaching Log” and so on. What matters is not what you choose to call it – but what it is and what it does for the person being coached.
11 Thursday Sep 2008
Posted in Uncategorized
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Certain incidents remain etched forever in the minds of people. Unfortunately, tragedies seem to grab top recall. All of us remember with pain the events of September 11, 2001 – which has since gone down in history simply as “9/11”. Who can forget the sight of the World Trade Centre Towers being struck by aircraft – deliberately crashed into them. Earlier that day, Al-Quaeda hijackers had in a well planned move hijacked four commercial airliners in the United States.
People at Work & Play 