GOOD TO GREAT

Jim Collins authored this book after his earlier work “Built to Last”, but he advises readers to consider this work as a prequel to his earlier book. While Built to last was about visionary, lasting organizations, “Good to Great” is about mediocre organizations which leaped to greatness.

A typical Jim Collins book…..extremely well researched over years, this book elucidates certain concepts using 11 companies which satisfied a typical pattern – “fifteen-year cumulative stock returns at or below the general stock market, punctuated by a transition point, then cumulative returns at least three times the market over the next fifteen years". As in his earlier book, Jim Collins has also maintained a list of comparative companies.

Jim Collins has beautifully written this book with the information of a business book and the sensitivity of an artistic creation. In this process, he has explored appealing concepts, which he discovered to be the key constituents of each of the Good to Great companies. Some of the findings are –

Leaders and the way they think - (early build up to greatness)
(1) Level five leaders (who build enduring greatness through a mix of personal humility and professional will)
(2) Hedgehog concept (ask - what you are passionate about, what you can be the best in the world at, what drives your economic engine – and then do those things which answer all the three questions)
(3) Stockdale Paradox – (retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of difficulties and at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be)
(4) First Who, then What (first find the right people, then think what to do)

Breakthrough and leap to greatness
(5) Flywheel building momentum (incremental and cumulative efforts, which help the system to get momentum)
(6) Culture of discipline (culture of discipline as different from tyranny)
(7) Technology accelerators (aligning technology with the strategy of the organization as streamlined by the hedgehog concept)

Jim Collins has consummately merged the concepts of this book with that of his earlier “Built to Last”.

In this book, Jim Collins doesn’t restrict his thoughts to the corporate world but links the concept of greatness with a subtle sensitiveness….greatness is not about being huge…its about discovering excellence and meaningfulness in work….Nor is greatness limited to the corporate…it can be discovered in every aspect of life.

Felt tempted to quote the last paragraph of the book -

“When all these pieces come together, not only your work move towards greatness, but so does your life. For in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that you have had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent and that it mattered.”

TWO MONTHS BACK...

Spring time….lovely weather….wide roads penetrating the deserts…..a three hour long drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and finally, I was in the Dubai airport to get back home….

The car stopped not far from the airport entrance and the sixty-something year old, kurta clad wrinkle faced, bearded person, who has been driving this vehicle got down to pick my luggage. Somehow I managed to dissuade him not to pick my luggage. He walked to the trolley section and got one trolley where I loaded my baggage. Then shook hands with him and waved him goodbye…

I still had three hours in the airport….did some minor shopping and then relaxed in the airport….one of my shortest trips…just three days….kept on reminiscing the last three days….

A unique mix….both Indians and Pakistanis form an integral chunk of population of this part of the Arab world…the deserts…the classiest buildings and towers…the Dubai FM…and the even the Karachi Durbar (the popular Pakistani restaurant in Dubai)….and the drives…especially the last one…from Abu Dhabi to Dubai....and the chitchat I had with the driver…

I was tired and would have rather preferred to take a nap during the drive…but then the driver asked me something “Aap Bombay se hain?”….I gave a reflexive nod and asked him if he was a native of one of the Emirates…There was a change in the expression of his face…he looked down…and stammered…nahin, hum Pakistan se hain, 20 saal se yahin pe hain…Do saal mein ek baar Pakistan jaate hain.

Somehow the conversation proceeded and I enjoyed talking with this person…Ahmed was his name and I addressed him as “Ahmad Bhai”. Perhaps I am too young to address him this way, but then I couldn’t think of a better way to address him. He kept on talking and I kept on listening….He talked about India….the British…he talked about India and Pakistan…..the Indo-Pak wars…the politicians of the two countries….the people of the two countries…..his experience in Dubai…languages like Arabic and Urdu….

Hum to ek hi kaum ke log hain…Janat se bhi khoobsurat hai Hindustan aur Pakistan….lekin kya karein….that was how he started his conversation….his hatred for the British and the politicians was evident….

Once he was out of the Indo-Pak issue, he talked about the beautiful Arabic language…the rich Arab world…. about his life in Dubai…his family in Pakistan.
Finally, we entered the Dubai downtown and he concentrated on his driving.

Almost one and half month after, as I sit down to pen down this experience, the wrinkled face of that old Pakistani driver is clearly visible. The three hour long drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai would have been lost in the memory lane as just another drive but for this Pakistani driver.

MAVERICK

Maverick (by Ricardo Semler) - Was it about doing business in the unreal world of Brazil….or was it about a “quirky laboratory” (read the company Semco) run by a few impudent and iconoclastic managers. Its about both, each intertwined within the other.

It is about a distinct way of running a company, Its neither socialist, nor is it purely capitalist, it’s the third way – “ a more humane, trusting, productive, exhilarating and in every sense rewarding way. As Ricardo closes the book – “ To forget socialism, capitalism, just in time deliveries, salary surveys, and the rest of it, and to concentrate on building organizations that accomplish the most difficult of all challenges: to make people look forward to coming to work in the morning.”

The author claims that this is not a business book, nevertheless, I feel this book should be among the must read lists of all business students. It’s to understand the iconoclastic methods of Ricardo Semler, wherein he creates a system within Semco, where the employees choose their bosses as well as their own salaries. The system was strong enough to successfully survive the volatile Brazilian economy and inflation (which often went as high as 400%).

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY

"Blue Ocean Strategy" is an exceptional book by W.C.Kim and Renee Mauborgne.

“Giving the people what they want is fundamentally and disastrously wrong. The people don’t know what they want …Give them something better”

Red oceans are all the industries in existence today—the known market space as understood today. Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today.

Blue Ocean strategy is nothing new. It has been existent over the ages. Many successful organizations and individuals have followed this strategy in the past. “Creating something new” is the simplest way in which I can sum up the philosophy of this book. In this book, the authors have just formalized the concept in a great way.

According to the authors, there is hardly any attractive or unattractive industry per se.
Blue Ocean can be created by reinventing, thinking out of box, creating new markets, and converting non customers into customers. The authors also stress the importance of consecutive rounds of blue ocean creation. Blue Ocean strategy is not a static achievement but a dynamic process, which can be created both by industry incumbents and new entrants.

“Value addition” is perhaps one of the most powerful phrases used during the business school lectures. This book speaks of something called “Value innovation”. Value innovators achieve a leap in value by creating new wealth rather than at the expense of competitors in the traditional sense. The concept is based on a non-zero sum game.

The authors have elucidated the concept using lot of examples and have suggested frameworks and models. Both conventional cases (like Model T of Ford and NYPD’s legendary chief Bratton) and numerous big and small organizations are explained in detail

The authors have created jargons (like “Placing kingpins in the fish bowl” and “Angels and devils”), which I am sure are quite popular already.

The basic theme of the book can be summed up as follows -

(1) Reconstruct the market boundaries (Look across alternative industries, strategic groups within industries, chain of buyers , complementary products, emotional appeal of buyers and finally time)
(2) Reach beyond the existing demand
(3) Get the strategic sequence right (exceptional utility, strategic pricing and target costing and adoption)

The authors have used the concept of strategy canvas where they study an organization with respect to its competitors. What differentiates a successful organization is its focus and divergence from the competitors well defined by a compelling tagline.

DIGRESSION

Before I move ahead to write on the topics which I had mentioned in my last post, let me take a digression and write something about the latest books I read during the last one month.

Making the Cisco Connection: This book, I felt, is a plain description of the origin of the behemoth named Cisco. David Bunnell has described well the nature of the three eras of the Cisco Management –
The entrepreneurial stint of Sandra Lerner and Leonard Bosack (the birth of Cisco)
The Morgridge years (the period of consolidation)
The era of Chambers (the age of expansion)
David has well described the major strategies and the culture of the organization. This book is indeed informative but something was lacking – something that was so striking in Richard Branson’s “Losing my virginity” or Sam Walton’s “Made in America”. Perhaps if some day, Chambers writes the story himself, the missing excitement can creep in.
I found something different in this book regarding JVs when David writes about Chambers -
“In JVs – no single transaction he’s had, he says has been 50-50. Sometimes CISCO’s partner will get 70% of the benefit, and the next time CISCO might get 80% of the benefit. All in all it adds up to 50-50.

The Age of Discontinuity: This book by Peter Drucker was first published in 1968.
Through this book, Drucker looked into the future and predicted stuff which we have taken for granted today. He mentioned about four sources of discontinuity, which he felt, marked the end of the then existing continuity. These sources are
Origin of new industries, new entrepreneurs and new economic policies
Globalization
Changing society tending towards pluralism and privatization
Knowledge economy
The term “knowledge economy” and “knowledge worker” became almost a sociological jargon after this book.
Drucker foresaw the last decade of the last millennium well in advance. He was indeed two decades ahead of his time. No wonder he is considered the greatest management mind of this era.

Games Indians Play: This is an interesting book by V. Raghunathan. In this book, the author has tried to explain why we (Indians) are the way we are by using Prisoners dilemma. While the author has maintained a simple environment in spite of using complex behavioral economics terms like rationality, systematic chaos etc., I feel he could also have used Prisoner’s Dilemma and other game theory principles to the context of Indian-ness as well. I mean he has used game theory as a tool to explain why Indians are the way they are. Perhaps he could have done a better job had he used the game theory to answer the question “what makes Indians behave the manner they do” in the context of the socio-economic status of India. However, this book is a good read…especially for its simplicity in dealing with complex things.

ABHINAYA LIVE

If you are one of those, whose heart appreciates the mystical dance forms and enigmatic tunes of ancient India, then Abhinaya is indeed the right place for you. This site consists of high quality videos of some of the oldest and rarest of Indian dance forms, apart from the audios of tunes, music and poetry. The catalogue is likely to pick up exponentially within the next few days. If the above videos enchant you, don’t forget to login to http://www.abhinaya.in

http://blip.tv/play/oWkBAA

BACK TO GOOD OLD LIFE

Back to good old life mode after the submission of the longest report of my life….a hundred page report on a power transmission line running across the Arabian Desert. It was a tremendous experience to drive through the deserts….to visit six out of the seven Emirates of U.A.E......Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Umm ul Quain, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Ajman…

With the submission of the report, I am now back to blogging after a long time.

Will write about the following topics in my next series of posts

(1) Abhinaya
(2) Chit-chat with a Pakistani in a different land
(3) Snapshots from the deserts

IMPACT

With ISB in the venerable list of the top Global schools (FT Ranking), things look quite rosy for other schools also. So...how is it going to affect the local scenario. Some possible outcomes according to me –

The Indian schools will reinvent themselves to fulfill the criteria and the requirements of the most prestigious international rankings. The three most respected rankings are WSJ (Wall Street Journal), FT (Financial Times) and BW (Business Week). Unless a business school finds a place in one of these lists, it better try to reinvent itself.

IIM-A shall the next Indian school to appear in the FT rankings, but not before 2009. According to FT criteria, a program/b school must have been operational for a minimum of 5 years and 3 batches must have passed out. They have to bank on their one year MBA to suit the FT criteria – GMAT, Work ex etc. But once they enter, they will be pretty high in the List. But interestingly, they will be in the ranks (Global MBA) due to the new One Year MBA.

The International rankings will see a host of Indian schools circulating, quite high in the list. Indian schools always had the abilities, but may be due to complacency, they never took serious interest in prestigious international rankings. As a result they never reinvented themselves. They were happy with local Indian rankings. Now with ISB starting the trend of global rankings, things look extremely good for the Indian top schools.

Organizations like AICTE hopefully will get out of the bureaucratic outlook and pay attention to the real issues of education.

The age of international sophisticated accreditations for Indian B-Schools is around the corner – Once again, by all probabilities, ISB will be the 1st Indian school to get the most prestigious international accreditation – AACSB.
International accreditations are a must to maintain international standards.

The narrow minded parochial mindset of the top Indian B-Schools will be replaced by a more competitive global outlook. They will stop reacting to changes. ISB always has a lot of critics, primarily because this six year old school keeps on achieving one laurel after another. But then, I believe that there are two types of critics – a critic, who criticizes to earn money...basically that, his profession; and the other who is jealous. And there is no point in remaining jealous. In fact I have always believed that our schools can benefit a lot by cooperating with each other….the same way as the likes of Harvard, Wharton, MIT and Kellogs cooperate with each other.

The number of international applicants will rise in Indian schools

And last but not the least, the research culture will pick up. And by research, I mean the quality research

India, I believe, is the only country apart from US, which has the potential to have at least 5 colleges in top 20. Let’s hope for the best. And by 2010, it should be possible.

ABHINAYA UNFOLDS

Just 3 more days remain for Abhinaya to unfold...

http://www.abhinaya.in/

THREE BOOKS AND ISB

Read “Made in America” by Sam Walton…the saga of the creation of the Worlds biggest organization….from the voice of Sam Walton himself.

This book is amazing….depicts the heart of Wal-Mart…..its technology, sophisticated distribution system, associates culture…..

Also Sam Walton has depicted himself through this book…as he broke all frontiers of success…His famous Hula dance in the Wall Street…his Saturday mornings with his associates…his fleet of little airplanes which he piloted himself….and all such stories which were instrumental in building the Wal-Mart culture.

The ideas of Sam are as entertaining as it can be…and I will like to include two lines from the book…

This one is about the basic marketing trick, which Sam asks his associates to practice

“From this day forward, I solemnly promise and declare that every time a customer comes within 10 ft of me , I will smile look him in the eye, and greet him”

This one is about having the right person at the right time

“All along the history of Wal-Mart has been marked by having the right people in the right job when we needed them the most. We had Whitaker, straight out of the get-after-it-and stay-after-it old school, to help get us started, Ferold , a methodical hardworking German, to get us organized, Ron Mayer a whiz at computers to get our systems going, Jack Shewmaker, a brilliant shoot-from-the-hip executive with a store managers mentality and David Glass who could step up in a crisis, keep his cool, and eventually get control of a company that became so big that it was hard to comprehend".

Also read “Wise and Otherwise” by Sudha Murthy….a book depicting individual instances….extremely simple book….with powerful messages in the Indian context

The third book was “Teaching the Elephant to Dance” by James Belasco….a book about Change Management….This book is informative…well researched …but somehow I felt it was too textual in nature (may be because I was reading “Made in America” also during the same time...

So that’s about the books….

Ah yes…..now something about ISB….Its official now…..ISB is ranked 20, in the world, by the influential Financial Times (FT)…..once again, my Alma mater has broken all records…..and this time the records are not just in the Indian context….its global….the youngest B-School to make it to these rankings (In fact, TOP 20)…ISB has indeed redefined the concept of Indian B School education….

A SWEET POST

300 posts already posted in this blog…So want my 301st post to have something special…

Let me post something, which I really liked.... This was written by EM six months back.

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About twenty yrs back from today a three yrs old kid was sitting along with her grandfather in his lap in an arm chair in the porch of the verandah….JJ (Grandfather in Oriya) chair that is what we used to refer that chair as.It was his favourite chair.

Kid : JJ what does puuo mean??

JJ : It means son

Kid : Why do u call Appa as puuo??Is he ur son??

JJ : Yes, he is my puuo

Kid : Who is my puuo??

JJ : Ha ha, who do u want ur puuo to be??

Kid : Can I choose my Puuo JJ??

JJ : Yes, u can…so whom do u choose then as ur puuo??

Kid : U….u be my puuo from today JJ…will u be??

JJ : Ha ha sure my dear…but then who ll be ur JJ if I be ur puuo!!

Kid : (After some serious thot) we will shorten JJma’s name as JJ….if I need a JJ

JJ : Ha ha ha ok

And so he became my puuo from being my JJ :).He used to feed me when I used to throw tantrums and find excuses for not eating making my mother give up on me in frustration.He wud bribe me with chocolates and toys and make me drink milk and then take all the credit for accomplishing the great task.My puuo and I wud together have bitter gourd curry together…..I eating on his behalf and he on my behalf….. and the bitterness of the curry would get drowned in our laughter and togetherness. He taught me alphabets before joining school.He taught me the difference between multiplication and divison…when I could never differentiate between them.He taught me multiplication tables till 12th table and I could never learn higher than 12th table till date.And today he’s taught me cooking even :)!I wud coax him to tell me the story of his childhood and he wud willingly accept to narrate the incidents of his childhood to me umpteen number of times without getting tired of it.He wud listen to my endless ranting and answer each and every single question that I ask.He wud blackmail me saying that if I had my bath early in the morning he wud allow me to enter the puja room and have Prasad and I wud always manage to sneak in and have the Prasad without bath.And he wud behave as if he could never make out tht I had sneaked in and finished the Prasad.I wud ask him “what do u do with the Prasad when I am not around Puuo”…and he wud reply “feed it to the sparrows so that they take it to u in their beaks”!!And I wud keep searching for sparrows at my place for the Prasad.He wud say “Grow up soon dear I am getting old”…and I wud reply “Don’t worry Puuo I ll grow up soon and we will both get old together”.

Days passed and distances grew.I got tied up with studies and cud manage to meet him only once in a yr.He wud complain “U call me puuo and don’t care for ur puuo.U simply disappear”….I wud reply “No JJ!!Me really tied up.I need to secure a seat JJ.After that I promise I ll always be with u”…..he replied “Fine!!I will get it for u…will u be happy then and not worry”….It sounded like those days in my childhood when I used to cry for toys and he wud say “Fine now don’t cry I will get u toys from my secret trunk…ll u be happy then”……and I wud forget all abt the toys and secretly sit down to ransack the secret trunk when my grandfather was not around. My puuo couldn’t see me worried ever.Whenever I wud get worried abt my results my puuo wud motivate me by narrating his experience and the way he had pursued his dreams by making it to Stanford University and completed his Phd .He had taught me pursuing ur dreams is all that matters ….don’t worry abt the results…just never give up. Tears filled his eyes when I had gifted him a dhoti and kurta with my first salary.He put away the dhoti and kurta in his secret trunk as usual :)!!I wud say “Puuo come and stay with me.Then we can have lot of fun” and his reply wud always be “No my dear just like that is ur house this is my house…ur Puuo is happy in his house…Next I ll go to God’s house from here”….And I wud retort “JJ!!Don’t talk nonsense.You had promised that we ll get old together”….”Yes my dear I remember my promise. We will get old together.U and I togther.That is why I made the prev. statement”.I never understood then what he meant.But today I understand the true meaning of his statement that he had made then.He had meant he wud always be there with me in my memories and we wud together get old.Isn’t that what u meant Puuo?? :)!

Life is so strange really….we are forced to accept the rules of nature.Much as we wud love to hold on to our dear ones we know that if we do so it will only get worse.Although its painful to depart from your loved ones u will have to console urself telling that its better if they are taken care of by God in his house than they withering away infront of ur eyes.U can’t pause time…u can’t stop age.And its also strange that when ur loved ones depart its only then that all the memories of the days that u spent together surfaces and u try clinging on to them like u never did before.U get so tied up with other responsibilities in ur life that although u know u love them dearly and they are there waiting impatiently to just catch a glimpse of u ….u just don’t have the time to be with them…and the memories just lie at the back of ur mind undisturbed….u don’t have the time to re-live them.So, that is what he had meant then that he can always stay in my memories and I will realise and relive the long lost childhood days with him all over again while he watches me do so from God’s abode…..and that’s how he will watch me getting old , sitting in the JJ chair , along with him :) !Hope you are keeping a secret trunk there too in God’s house Puuo.And I am sure this time God will make sure that ur secret trunk is not ransacked by any naughty kid around. And here I will take care of your favourite chair :)!

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BUILT TO LAST

The latest addition to my small collection of business books is “Built to Last” by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras...a relatively old management classic.

This book , though full of jargons, proved to be a good read. Even its content-list is a collection of jargons….Clock building not time telling….No “tyranny of the Or” …more than profits…preserve the core…BHAGs….cult-like cultures….try a lot of stuff and keep what works…home grown management….good enough never is….the end of the beginning…building the vision…core ideologies….core competencies…etc.

The amount of research backing this book is stupendous and evident. The methodology followed is simple… “How are visionary companies different from comparison companies” …the definition of visionary and comparison are defined in the first chapter itself. Lots and lots of companies well-described…from the day one of their birth.

Jim Collins has beautifully described a visionary company as follows...just loved it...

Visionary company…A visionary company is like a great work of Art…Think of Michelangelo’s scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or his statue of David. Think of a great and enduring novel, like Huckleberry Finn or Crime and Punishment. Think of Beethovan’s Ninth Symphony or Shakespeare’s Henry V. Think of a beautifully designed building like the masterpieces of Frank Lloyd Wright or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. You cannot point to any one single item that makes the whole thing work; it’s the entire work – all the pieces working together to create an overall effect – that leads to enduring greatness. And it’s not just the big pieces, but also the itty-bitty details – the turn of phrase, the change of pace at just the right moment, the perfect offcenter placement of a window, a subtle expression sculpted into the eyes.

TO END THE YEAR

Three books to conclude this year…. thin books but sweet ones…

“Our iceberg is melting” by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber…a fable, with penguins as characters, that took me back to the lectures I had attended on “Change Management”, reflecting the golden rules that lead to a successful change and a new culture -

Creating sense of urgency
Pull together the team
Develop change vision
Communicate
Empower others to act
Produce short term wins
Don’t let up
Create a new culture

“Is New York Burning” by Dominique Lappiere and Larry Collins…. one of the fastest books (if such a phrase exists) I have ever read…a novel that involves the contemporary political situation and real life characters…. One thing that was particularly striking in this book is the depiction of Condoleeza Rice as a master negotiator.

“Screw it…. Lets do it” …a quick- read of “Losing my Virginity” by Richard Branson… a collection of Richard Branson’s favorite quotes with brief description of the events associated with the respective quotes.

TWO MORE

Read one more book on magical realism – “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel.

A perusal of this book might give the impression that Yann Martel has described the adventures of a cast-way, who successfully spent 227 days in the Pacific with a Bengal tiger as companion. But this book is not just about survival instinct. It’s about pragmatism, yet it is about philosophy.

A closer look at the book takes the reader through a religious and spiritual journey, which is quite unique and novel. Pi Patel, the teenage protagonist of this novel practices all the three religions – Hinduism, Islam, Christianity. The reaction of the individual self-acclaimed protectors of religion towards Pi is interesting.

Pi, his family and all the animals (Pi’s dad was a zoo keeper) were migrating to Canada when the Tsim-Tsum (the ship which they had boarded) sank…. Pi was the lone human survivor…. he lost his world but he gained another…this book is about his new world.

Its about seeking harmony with the universe…spiritual illumination…. wild adventure…religion and faith…. restless energy and peace… all at the same time

But like any other book on magical realism, this book deserves a slow read.

The other book which I completed is “Losing my Virginity” by Richard Branson. Its about the real life adventures of Richard, while building the Virgin brand. A perfect management book…without all the drab jargons…and with the excitement of a roller coaster ride. An exhilarating experience it was…to get an idea of Richard’s definition of the perfect life…and perfect work.

SNOW

"Every life is like a snowflake: individual existences might look identical from afar, but to understand one’s own eternally mysterious uniqueness one had only to plot the mysteries of one’s own snowflake".

Orhan Pamuk's "Snow" is a complicated book. It’s about a journalist who arrives in the city of Kars in Turkish border. Kars was going through tough times politically, with deep rooted religious impact. Confusing times, religious turmoil, the city of Kars….and within this setting….the life of characters like Ka (the westernized Turkish journalist), Blue (the Islamic fundamental), Ipek (childhood crush of Ka, and …..let me not kill the suspense), Kadife (Ipek’s sister and Blue’s lover) and a myriad of other characters.

Since Orhan Pamuk has deeply portrayed the inner turmoil of each of the characters, I did not find the pace of this book fast enough…a style of writing where the protagonist is not an inspiring hero, but an ordinary human being... with all the sub-conscious happenings.

The distinct element that is pervasive throughout this book is the regular usage of snowflakes to describe any situation or emotion. Its winter time in Kars….with heavy snowfall... and the whole context is submerged within the nature of snowflakes.

IN ANOTHER WORLD

Its as if I am living in a different world….where life is nothing but revenue, profit, Q3 results, Q4 estimations…last one odd week has kept me busy…even more than what ISB managed to make me slog…

But yeah…at the end of the day…after 18 restless hours, when I get to bed, it is a sweet feeling…a mix of tiredness and a realization of a day well spent.

Not been able to read much over the last week...handling three books at a time since the last one month…Mein Kampf, Snow and Losing my virginity….and maybe it will take another month to complete these books.

Somehow could not resist writing about the first half of Mein Kampf…It is about Hitler’s complex thoughts and justifications.

From indifference to interest…. from interest to obsession…. from obsession to hatred…. Hitler’s anti-Semitic tendencies and his hatred for democracy and the then incumbent society traced this path…. Hatred is such a complicated emotion…. it grows within in a strange manner…. it stems from the way one aligns ones thoughts and understanding. This is exactly what this book is all about…unmitigated hatred… that originated from one of the most complicated genius the world has ever seen…

It’s strange to learn that little Hitler always dreamt of pursuing an artistic career – in painting and architecture. But he groomed himself to walk a different path…. and the dreaded complication of his thoughts that he allowed himself to drift into, proved too costly for the entire world.

He hated almost everything, which he thought was weakening the discipline of the German culture. He hated the education system, the attitude of the bourgeoisie, the politicians, their way of doing things…. and the interesting thing is that he got himself convincing reasons for doing so. He has clearly explained why he hated the then German democracy (of the early 20th century), the education system, the selfish politicians…. with cogent facts and convincing reasons. Intense nationalism was all that he could think about those days. He developed his thoughts into defining the ideal education, print media and method of governance and a whole lot of such issues…. and … thus took shape the most dreaded word in the History of mankind – Nazism.

This was my third attempt at this book…. and finally I completed the first half of Mein Kampf

DECEMBER

The sweeping breeze from the hills proving its presence….the red morning sun making its way through the fog…the crackling sound of the fire providing warmth to the people around….the wide, lonely roads guiding its daily commuters….

December is back once again...a month, whose responsibility is to close the year.

A THOUSAND SUNS

The impact of having been through the experience of “City of Joy” tempted me to pick up one more Dominique Lappiere classic, and this book turned out to be one of the most amazing books, I have ever read. “A Thousand Suns” is one of those books, which I will love to preserve in my personal collection forever. It’s a collection of separate documentaries, which Dominique has collected as a result of his experience as a journalist. But Dominique is no ordinary journalist and he captures no ordinary situation and no ordinary people. The real life characters that adorn this magnificent book are as varied as the intense socio-economic and political situations that they live in.

This book is distinct from other journalistic representations. This can be attributed to Dominique’s articulate and soulful exploration of the individual, silhouetted against the complicacy of the situation.

A pirate who dared to topple the dictatorial regime in Portugal by hijacking a cruise liner…. a matador whose reputation rose to elevate him to the status of the most popular Spaniard ever…. a Japanese assassin who used to think about butterflies in his free time…the architects of Israel who crafted immeasurable achievements…a passionate elephant lover who later sacrificed his life for the cause of elephants against poachers in Africa…. the accomplices of Nathuram Godse…a criminal sentenced to capital punishment…and many other heartrending accounts ornate the intensity of this book.

Dominique has also pictured some personal accounts including his love for cars and long excursions all over the globe and his experience when he was suspected of cancer…. the first depicted one of his passions while the second aroused his worst trepidations. Also, his association with Larry Collins is presented time and again, with systematic accounts of the phenomenal books they have written together.

Will try to get hold of some more of such phenomenal DL books…. about History cum Journalism cum inspiration.

READINGS WHILE COMMUTING

Four hours reserved for traveling to and fro everyday seems to be pretty interesting these days. Weekend readings are thus easily transferred to weekday readings… in the trains of Mumbai.

Read a book, which I have always wanted to read earlier… "The City of Joy” by Dominique Lapierre…a book depicting the slums of Calcutta… about people like Stephan Kovalski and Max Loeb…about lives of characters like Hasari Pal and Aloka…about diseases…about the human horses…about floods and droughts…
This book is a tragedy its entire course, yet the element of hope and selflessness is very strong. But I guess Lapierre likes to move in one dimension…I mean when he elevates characters, he elevates them completely to sainthood…. maybe its true as this book is based on real life picture…. but I cannot imagine that someone can be as selfless as Kovalski or Max.
However this book has left an impression…I read this 500-pager in the local trains of Mumbai…and every time I look outside the window of a train…when I see the slums, this storyline of this book gets so easily reflected.

Also read Zig…the autobiography of Zig Ziglar, the successful marketer and public speaker…its always a different feeling to read an autobiography…its as if the person is sitting close to you and speaking his glorious life out. In this book, Zig describes his childhood, each of his family members and their impact on his career and life, about the Redhead, about the early financial constraints, failures and finally super success. But the distinguishing feature is his transformation into a devoted Christian during the journey of his life. At times, the later half of his book sounds slightly Biblical, but his approach to life is different and this book is definitely worth a read.

Autobiographies are like case studies…. they keep on reminding one philosophy and that is
“Isn’t hindsight marvelous for honing wisdom?”

ELEMENTS OF CONFUSION

Options are often associated with confusion. After MBA, this has been a regular feature in life. The scope of my expectations of my career is getting redefined.
May be a more diplomatically correct way of putting it is “widening of scope”.

I started my career in shipbuilding, in various yards, working with steel and machines. I loved it. But somehow I thought that if I continue doing the same thing, I might not get the real flavor of the corporate…. the very word “corporate” was almost synonymous with seduction (even today, it is…)

Decided to pursue MBA with the idea of entering the strategic and financial aspects of shipping…MBA followed…. During MBA also, confusion was rampant …I considered it more sensible to look beyond shipping (expanding the scope), but then decided to fix a limit based on my past experience and aspirations…. My ambitions expanded from shipping sector to the energy sector…mostly into construction business…thought that way it will much more diverse…. Earlier had a decent idea of how ships were constructed…. wanted to explore the nuances of construction in power lines, oil pipelines, oceanic offshore structures. However decided to restrict myself only to the planning and strategic roles…. idea was to work for a few years, witness business closely and then plan for a doctorate….

But, more I stay in the industry, more is this element of confusion…. learning in job is decent…but what I have realized is that learning in one job or in one designation is slow and at times monotonous. Of course one can learn a lot of things…. but working for a huge organization has its own disadvantages. There are lot of advantages as well, but somehow I feel that the disadvantages are getting more pronounced now. A huge organization is very different culturally (especially in India)…. hierarchy levels…. power bases…complicated methods of promotions…. etc. One way to deal with this is to restrict to one huge organization and keep growing within…slowly and steadily…. may be an SBU head by early 40s…. There is more security in life this way…. but then the excitement level gets diminished…the excitement level that is easily available in a small and flat organization…

Somehow feel that the security of being in a huge organization is detrimental to my aspirations…. need more excitement and more challenges in life…

What is the optimum period I should stay in my present organization? What should be the nature of the next organization? Will I be happier in industry or consultancy? When do I apply for univs? Is it a great idea to pursue doctorate after a couple of years, or later in life once I get saturated with the seduction of the corporate? What do I compromise if I choose one option over another? Time to get myself answers to so many questions…need to plan out the next stage of career….