Stress-Busters

There was an interesting coffee-shop discussion recently with some friends on what we do to handle the challenges and stresses that impinge on us during daily lives.

These folks handle challenging jobs with built-in stresses which they have to handle regularly, and they also face sudden issues involving their employees, customers and markets.

One guy said that he keeps the blackberry switched off during weekends, and “concentrates” on spending time with his family. Good idea but not practical in this “over-connected” world, where the world expects you to be connected and available.

Another guy said that he spends time on golfing Saturday/Sunday mornings which takes his time from something like 6 AM to 3 PM. No harm in that, but one has to be regular and focused on the game, which depends on a close circle of golfers who usually do not tolerate inconsistencies. Plus, you would hardly get time to attend to family or personal needs over the weekend, and weekdays are like 24 x 7 operation !

Some other guys prefer cricket, tennis or badminton.

The thing which has worked for me during weekends is a combination of 60 minutes gym (per day) plus concentrated putting on a golf patty at home plus of course, blogging, and you won’t believe this – cutting fruits ! Rest of the time is spent with the family or going for forced shopping !! The best stress-buster is at the gym followed by blogging and cutting fruits.

The fruits that I like and therefore, cut, are – apples, kiwi fruit, pomegranate, pears and guavas. Takes some good effort when you are not using any gadgets. I have an apple cutter, but I don’t use it as it is quick and takes the pleasure out of the manual cutting. When you take time to cut in a nice organized manner every late evening, arrange the same and hand out to family members after dinner, that is real good focused exercise.

Of course, sometimes variety is required, and then I would go for some light badminton or golf-putting. It is good to get the concentration, and I can tell you – it helps in your business and people interactions as well. Most of us lack listening skills, and it is critical to enhance the same and that would come with increased ability to concentrate your mind on the job at hand.

I tend to compare the ability to focus on one task vis-a-vis handling a multitude of tasks simultaneously. I used to place more importance on the latter for a long time, as I thought my ability to juggle many tasks would help me move quicker and ahead of others.

But as we absorb the complexity of the corporate world and encounter bigger challenges in business and life, I found that the singular ability to concentrate on one big task to the total exclusion of everything else, even if that is required only for 2 hours, is a very critical and strategic benefit one can have. I had to develop that ability and it took time.

Some of the stress-busters (may be this is an incorrect nomenclature !) that I have mentioned above are helpful. However, to each his own – you got to develop your own “busters” for your own benefit, as only you can determine the specific lack of certain abilities in yourself. May be at a higher level, a mentor or coach that you have assigned for yourself can help point out such deficiencies.

The technique has to be developed by yourself and if that is successful, you would find that religious repetition of the identified stress-buster would help you out in a major manner.

One does not need medicines or medical counselling for beating stress. You can do it yourself and at the same time enhance one of your critical abilities for the future.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
12th November 2011
Mumbai

Doing Business in Rain

Mumbai is an amazing city.

It has been raining cats and dogs for the past few days. The rains have been successful in filling the water catchment areas just outside the city and also very successful in creating multiple continuous craters on the poor quality Mumbai roads.

But no issue with rains as such. Business life goes on in Mumbai without stop. I was amazed to see the mass of working folks who were walking on the roads in pouring rains after close of work. There was the usual traffic jams in the expressway, no surprise there – in fact, when it rains even in small quantities, the Mumbai traffic starts to crawl. You can imagine what happens during the big rains. Like today’s rains – it has rained non-stop from last night, all of today……and it is still raining heavily at 11 PM tonight here in Mumbai.

But action goes on. Everyone goes about his/her task as though things are perfectly normal. Cars are accelerating when there is little less traffic on the roads, irrespective of the wetness of the roads. People cross roads nonchalantly, carrying umbrellas, and completely oblivious of the oncoming traffic, absolutely sure that nothing will happen to them. Big lorries carrying all kinds of stuff are moving in and out of the city, during the only hours that they are allowed in. Buses are running as usual, again completely ignorant of all traffic rules.

And, that is the spirit of Mumbai. Rain or no rain, business goes on, and has to go on, as this is the financial and commercial HQ of India. When I walked out of a five star hotel recently, I was surprised when someone approached me and asked whether I would be interested to see the inside of the Aston Martin car parked in the driveway. Though I was a bit taken aback, I also noticed the proactive approach made by the driver, in the hope that I might be interested in a test drive. Well, I was not, but that is a different matter altogether. The fact is that, even in pouring rain, someone approaches and asks if we can do business ! I am sure that this kind of thing does not happen in other cities of India that easily.

Mumbai has a way of working and that is a non-personal, non-emotional, practical way of conducting business and affairs. Entirely professional and non-partisan as well. So, it is no wonder that Mumbai stands tall amongst the cities of India in terms of the professionalism and ease of doing business.

Well, I started with rains and ending with conducting business ! And that is the way Mumbai moves on and ahead. Welcome to Mumbai…….in the rains !

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
27th August 2011
Mumbai

Baby Giraffes and Management Lesson

Courtesy : Chaitanya, my classmate from IIM-B

BABY giraffes never go to a business school. But they learn a very important management lesson much early in life.

A lesson that all of us would do well to remember.

The birth of a baby giraffe is quite an earth-shaking event. The baby falls from its mother’s womb, some eight feet above the ground. It shrivels up and lies still, too weak to move.

The mother giraffe lovingly lowers her neck to kiss the baby giraffe. And then something incredible happens. She lifts her long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and tumbling down on the ground.

As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks the baby again and again Until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired, pushes its limbs and for the first time learns to stand on its feet. Happy to see the baby standing on its own feet, the mother giraffe comes over and gives it yet another kick. The baby giraffe falls one more time, but now quickly recovers and stands up.

Mama Giraffe is delighted. She knows that her baby has learnt an important lesson:

Never mind how hard you fall, always remember to pick yourself up and get back on your feet.

Why does the mother giraffe do this? She knows that lions and leopards love giraffe meat. So unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with the pack – it will have no chance of survival.

Most of us though are not quite as lucky as baby giraffes. No one teaches us to stand up every time we fall. When we fail, when we are down, we just give up. No one kicks us out of our comfort zone to remind us that to survive and succeed, we need to learn to get back on our feet.

If you study the lives of successful people though, you will see a recurring pattern. Were they always successful in all they did? No.

Did success come to them quick and easy? No, You will find that the common streak running through their lives is their ability to stand up every time they fall. The ability of the baby giraffe!

The road to success is never an easy one. There are several obstacles, and you are bound to fall sooner or later. You will hit a road block, you will taste failure. But success lies in being able to get up every time you fall. That is a critical life skill. And it is the habit of all successful people.

Courtesy : Chaitanya, my classmate from IIM-B

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
15th May 2011
Mumbai

Perfection in India

If you try to be a pure perfectionist in India, in whatever field, it is likely that you would fail royally.

India is full of imperfections, and one can see it all around. It is important to understand the limitations, and to adjust, rather than trying to change the fundamental nature of the place. It is unlikely to change in the near or medium future.

Frustrations set in when you try to impose a set of standards or expectations on the people around. When the expectations are not met, or met only to the extent of, say 60%, is that a reflection of the capabilities of the people ? May be not.

May be it that you need to change and acclimatize yourself better in an environment which cherishes any kind of achievement – not 100% achievement ! The constraints are just too many, and it is difficult to achieve perfectionism.

I think that statement is generally true in many countries, and is less true in a place like Singapore or Hong Kong. The constraints in these places are less, the environment is better, the limitations are mostly addressable, and potential for a 80% or even a 90% achievement is high.

It is important to understand the nuanced differences between more efficient societies and places like India. Again, there are many places like India. So it is not “out of this world” to be able to adjust and operate. Success needs to be redefined in the Indian context !

In India, acceptability of mistakes is high, or expected to be high. You obviously get around to the notion that mistakes are possible, and most likely to happen, and must be accepted as “a way of life”. This could give a funny feeling, but this is absolutely true. Mistakes are human, and people make mistakes more often than not. An “active” acceptance and recognition of this fact will help reduce the frustrations and reset the expectations, leading to some level of “happiness”.

I further found that if the stress on “perfectionism” is somehow reduced, there is a better chance that people will relax a bit and understand the need to avoid any further mistakes of the unnecessary kind. That leads to a better performance overall, rather than the push-based perfectionist performance which often falls short of expectations.

I believe it is important to understand that perfection is not possible in any place to start with, as not all the people around you are perfectionists to start with. An understanding of how human behaviour is guided to deliver results is most important for managers to extract the best performance from colleagues and subordinates. And, that understanding is not correct if the approach is based on a “maximum” expectation in a perfect mode of delivery all the time !

It is always possible to get maximum performance by tuning the approach in a step-by-step moderate manner. And, I have seen that it produces the best results.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
26th Sep 2010
Mumbai

Clipper Lounge, Mumbai International Airport

At Mumbai International Airport, the check-in and the immigration clearance are quite fast – it took me all of 4 minutes to get my Boarding Pass at the Jet Airways Check-in Counter, and just 3 minutes at the Immigration Counter. So, overall it was a pleasant experience tonight when I was flying out of India.

However, Jet Airways needs to set up its own Lounge at the International Airport, as it strives to become a global airline, mainly operating out of Mumbai. Jet Airways directs its Premiere/Platinum customers to the Clipper Lounge, which is a shared lounge – shared by more than five airlines. While it could be cheaper for Jet Airways, I do not think it is the right kind of approach for its best customers.

The Clipper Lounge is first of all, very crowded, given the fact that there are so many flights between 11 PM and 3 AM, out of Mumbai. It is difficult to get a proper seat. More than that, it is difficult to get a power point on the wall next to your seat. I think it is very important for lounges and coffee shops in India to provide power points on the wall, for the comfort of their customers. Most people want to connect their laptops to the internet and cannot work for a fairly long time unless power is provided. I do not understand why service providers do not understand this simple fact of life, which is becoming very important. Internet and Power – both very critical for connectivity and corporate survival !

Yes, these days it is very important to stay connected. Internet has become an utility. Most places provide Wi-Fi Access, but the problem is the security of these Wi-Fi networks. It is OK to browse public websites for news, etc., but it may not be a wise idea to go to any personal websites or access email. I avoid this problem by using my own internet access via a service provider. It is always better to have control and exercise it all the time. Who knows who is accessing the information or breaking in ? Better to be safe rather than sorry.

Power – yes, power is very important. I do not understand why they do not provide many power points in public places such as airports and airport lounges. Surely, these are not available at coffee shops, wherein one spends atleast INR 60 to 70 for a cup of coffee. Apart from the seat made available to sit and chat, power points need to be provided as well. These facilities are very common in the West, and in Singapore.

I am going to check out at the Hong Kong Airport, where I am going to spend some significant time tomorrow as well as when I am flying back later this week. Let us see whether they understand the importance of Wi-Fi Security and power points !

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
17th July 2010
Mumbai

Just Lighten Up !

It is strange to see that most corporate folks have a stern face ! May be they are always under some kind of pressure !!

The best way to connect with employees or customers is to smile. Or, even better, develop and display a sense of humour. It is very critical to connect with people, and that is easier to accomplish with a smile than with a sneer, or a stern face.

Life and business is easier to deliver with a smile and a sense of humour. People always find it easy to connect with someone who is bright and sunny, rather than glum and gloomy.

This should not come as a surprise, but you would found it surprising how many folks do not understand this simple fact.

To achieve things easily with a smooth effort, just smile. You will achieve wonders, just test it tomorrow.

Just lighten up, and do not always take yourself seriously.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
4th April 2010
Mumbai

De-Stressing

Modern World is placing a premium on competition and competitive spirit.

Intense competitiveness has become de rigueur in the marketplace as well as workplace, not just in sports.

Obviously there is a serious and severe impact on people who constantly face the challenges. Only those people who are able to not only understand the impact but also adequately prepare themselves can withstand and excel consistently over a long period of time. It is incorrect to assume that once you have succeeded in one task or achievement, you will be able to go on and win in the future. There will be a damage and it needs to be assessed consciously, rather than left to winds of chance.

The other issue is the many distractions that we encounter due to the onslaught of modern communication tools. There are constant phone calls, SMSs, emails, Skype Chats, Facebook reminders, Linkedin Updates, et al. The TV attacks are just too many. All these constantly combine to make our mind a chaotic den for a range of thoughts, which I am not sure is the right place to make decisions important for our lives.

The best way is to develop atleast two defensive mechanisms to fight against the ill effects of competitive behaviour. One is the development and sustenance of a well-honed hobby or sport. This could be golf, painting, drawing sketches, cricket, badminton, table tennis, or just writing a regularly published blog. Like I do !

The other is to follow a regular regimen of gym or yoga, without fail or much changes whatsoever. This is difficult to accomplish, but I think there is no option. It is critical to maintain a fit body or close to being fit to take up the challenges of the modern lifestyle.

But the most important thing is not to take oneself seriously, and laugh (or make others laugh) as much as possible. This is however difficult to achieve, as most of us view ourselves as “too important”. Mostly the people around us are too serious to laugh (or even think of laughing !). Sometimes, the best position is to achieve a “blank” state of mind while concentrating on the task on hand – like we do when we have to hit that TT ball flashing through the air at us. We can’t think of anything else except to hit that ball back on the TT table, right ? Well, that is the state of mind that we need to have instead of the constant distractions of our all-too-modern lives !

Let us try to de-stress and take a nap sometimes. It will make us sharper, more analytical, and more successful. To be substantiated by scientific research though !

DE-STRESS !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
28th Feb 2010
Mumbai

Culture and Behaviour

Even though I am used to it by now (3 years after returning to India), it still amazes me that people here shove around others to get their way ahead, especially in queues (sorry, I mean non-queues !). A prime example occurs at airports all around the country. Since Indian infrastructure is not up to world-class standards, multiple exit points to the tarmac after the flight is called do not exist – this means passengers from various flight counters bunch up towards one exit gate which is manned by one single security man, who is challenged with checking each person’s boarding pass, and the security stamp on his/her piece of baggage.

I saw last week that passengers tried to crowd around this sole security guy, and even tried to slip away into the waiting buses. Prime example of inefficiency and indiscipline. Inefficiency because the airport authority could have opened atleast two exit gates, as there are as many as 10 flight counters, and many a time multiple flights are called simultaneously. Indiscipline, because Indians just cannot fall in line in a queue system. They are probably afraid that their respective flights will leave without them, or they are paranoid of being passed over – something untoward may yet happen to them if they follow procedures and adopt discipline.

This happens everywhere, and what is more shocking is that educated urban people in good corporate positions tend to do exactly the same thing – there is no thought as to what is the proper behavioural norm, as there is no respect for the same from anyone around. If there is any such guy around who is patiently waiting to join the queue, he will be duly ignored. I saw a Chinese person holding his passport and boarding pass in the middle of this medley, and he was slowly and surely getting chucked out of the queue – he did not seem to understand the Indian Queuing Theory which was in full force out there. I had no option but to get pushed towards one direction – the exit door…….I went by the tide, though I did not like the 3 guys around me pushing me around. I was worried about potential crumpling of my shirt as I was going for a day trip to meet customers !

The same behaviour is replicated all over the place where several lines of people converge on limited space – like there are typically 7 lines of cars trying to squeeze into 3 lanes of a highway, just outside my building – amazing how they do it successfully. Constant horns, screeching sounds, centimetres of gap, irritated looks, occasional hands out of the car, “lorry manouevering boy” on the left side of the bus driver beating his side of the lorry to scare other drivers, et al……….just fascinating to see all these from a vantage point – I mean, from the back seat !

So, where is our so-called refined “Culture” ? Over 5,000 years old ??

At the end of this Culture argument, the real fact is that all of us have turned very selfish, very materialistic. The Spirit of Yesteryears, the Culture, the Religiosity, etc., have departed from our genes quite sometime ago. We just wish to get ahead everywhere, completely oblivious of others.

I saw vestiges of such behaviour in Singapore, especially at lift lobbies.

The orderly behaviour coming from a refined, cultured upbringing normally cannot be mandated, except in small places like Singapore. In Western cultures, it has always been heartening to see the orderly behaviour of people, drivers, and even kids. Just look at the way car drivers handle a circle junction, or what we call “round tana” here. And, compare it with the way drivers behave in Delhi at similar junctions – you know what I am talking about. Might is not always right in Western societies. Look at the way cars move in School Zones in the U.S. – just 20 mph, and very very careful. Look at the way drivers treat Zebra Crossings.

Where is Indian Culture ?

So, one has to come to the conclusion, though regretfully, that Culture is missing in India (except at weddings, and heritage monuments). Peoples’ behaviour is hardly determined by the Culture to which they belong. Refined behaviour that we encounter in five-star hotels and at corporate offices, are illusionary. These norms of behaviour disappear instantaneously when these same folks come out of those “elite” environments.

May be Culture still exists in Indian Villages, but I am yet to experience the same.

Have a great weekend,

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
4th July 2009
Mumbai

Corporate Governance and IT Industry

The dramatic downfall of Satyam Computer Services of India in recent weeks is well chronicled and covered in the media, especially the 24 hour, all-encompassing Indian News and Business TV Channels.

Satyam is the fourth largest Indian IT Services and Outsourcing company, with a good track record around the world. In my interactions with the company around four years ago, I noticed that they had a strong SAP Practice (probably the best amongst the Indian IT companies), and a huge focus on employee learning and development. Satyam also had an affable manner while dealing with outsiders, whether they are customers or vendors (I was with a company which was both a customer and a service provider). Non-aggressive, simple and mild in approach, and very much relationship-oriented, Satyam endeared itself to customers much unlike some of the other companies which were hard-charging.

I recall meeting Mr Ramalinga Raju and Mr Rama Raju on separate occasions along with my company’s CEO in Singapore and Hyderabad, respectively. I was impressed with the elder Mr Raju’s vision and soft persuasive communication.

So, it was with shock I watched the collapse of Satyam. It all happened so rapidly, that nobody seems to be knowing the actual facts – there were a lot of rumours and innuendos. I was taken aback with the admission of guilt by Mr Raju via the now famous letter to his Board of Directors and the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

I was deeply annoyed by the statement issued by one of the senior officials of a competitor, Infosys, stating that the Satyam episode is an “aberration”. It is a disaster of huge proportions, and here is Infosys, a reputed IT Services company (No. 2 in the Indian IT industry) saying it is a blip on the radar. No one knows how many companies have similar problems. If PriceWaterHouse Coopers (PWC) have not done their due diligence as the auditors of Satyam, how do we trust them where they are auditors to another hundred publicly listed Indian companies ? There is a systemic failure of corporate governance, and it has now become impossible to accept that Indian Public Companies are darlings of corporate governance while the world is crumbling all over in failures, especially in the U.S.

The image of father figures of the Indian IT and Banking Industry should now be taken with a pinch of salt. There is no need to listen carefully to every word uttered by these leading figures, one has to use one’s own judgement and inspiration to determine whether to invest or buy services from any specific company. There is a crisis of confidence, which is going to affect Indian companies, when they do business globally. I also noticed comments of some IT competitors that they hope Satyam customers will eventually come their way and it might be the right time to grab some of Satyam’s best employees ! This is just greed, the same type of greed which brought down companies. NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) did not do a good job either – it said that the Satyam case is an isolated one, instead of admitting there could be problems and image issues which could afflict the entire Indian IT industry and all the other non-IT publicly listed companies in India. Well, we all know that it is always the case – no one admits that there could be problems, they all always do PR spins saying confidently that things will be fixed and let us move on – slick deliveries from masters of English language.

I am really pleased with the speed with which the Indian Government, the SEBI, and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs moved in unison to contain the Satyam damage. The existing Board of Directors of Satyam has been dismissed, and Government is in the process of constituting its own Board for the company. The founders and the CFO have been arrested and jailed yesterday. The employees (over 50,000 of them) have been reassured that things are moving fast to fix their company.

The Indian Government’s bailout is not inconsistent with free market principles. Look at the number of financial institutions that the Bush Government has bailed out over the past 8 months ! However, it would be necessary for the Government and the Prosecutors to establish guilt on the part of the Company Executives and the Board of Directors of Satyam, apart from PWC partners who signed off on the financial statements of the company over the past several years. The Independent directors of Satyam – all stellar names from technology and the academia – should be prosecuted for being such a lame duck Board : it is clear that the Board tried to take the investors for an ill-fated ride.

Strong Message has to go that Corporate Governance should be taken indeed very seriously by listed companies, independent directors are liable for their actions, auditors should take their job extremely seriously, and founders cannot take a publicly listed company for a ride even when they hold less than 10% of the company. Disclosures have to be demanded sternly by the Board and the SEBI.

So, let us take note that all is not well in the Indian IT industry. One has to watch how things unfold in the next few days. Sorry state of affairs – again another case wherein the hype and “sexiness” of the IT and BPO industry have pulled the wool over the eyes of the investors.

Have a good weekend,

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
10th Jan 2009
Mumbai

How To Recruit The Right Person For The Job ?

Courtesy : My IIM-B Classmate RAOMS 1985-87 Batch

Put about 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an open window.

Then send 2 or 3 candidates in the room and close the door.

Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours and then analyze the situation.

If they are counting the bricks, put them in ACCOUNTS.

If they are recounting them, put them in AUDIT.

If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks put them in ENGINEERING.

If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order put them in PLANNING.

If they are throwing the bricks at each other put them in OPERATIONS.

If they are sleeping, put them in SECURITY.

If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

If they are sitting idle, put them in HUMAN RESOURCES.

If they say they have tried,different combinations, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in SALES.

If they have already left for the day, put them in MARKETING.

If they are staring out of the window, put them on STRATEGIC PLANNING.

And then last but not least, If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved. Congratulate them and put them in TOP MANAGEMENT.

Courtesy : My IIM-B Classmate RAOMS 1985-87 Batch