IndianMaze

It was a great statement conveyed with amazing simplicity. "The best way to clean a staircase is to start at the top" were the words conveyed in chaste Haryanavi by on of the industrialists I respect. Yes, indeed he was referring to the management styles. He was talking over a drink well past midnight about the challenges he faced in his experience with many a professionals in the past. I am reminded of the story in another context of another successful entrepreneur. He is disappointed that he is to deal with trivial issues of the organisation whereas he has hired a number of capable senior professionals. The answer was apparant in no time, when a call came in to check if a message can be sent to a business associate. The entrepreneur was furious - why do you have to call me on this small issue? I have hired you to manage this on your own and why even you have to deal with it as this could be dealt by a junior person and so on for next few minutes. I empathised with the

I was dumbfounded today. I could never believe that I did not see it for weeks despite the fact that it was in front of me many times a day virtually every working day and then like electricity flowing through an inactive bulb - pop..... The story started about 6 months ago. On an interaction, we discussed an embarassing issue but in  a perfect harmonius manner that necessitated a change in behaviour. Then I just forgot about it. I continued meeting this individual, a colleague, everyday for work and would meet him sometimes half a dozen times in a day oblivious to the discussion held earlier. Today, we were in a discussion and all of a sudden I realised that the discussion we had many months ago has had a dramatic result and I could not see it change from the previous scenario. I was blind despite seeing things. It was a true awakening for me. How many more changes are there that I am seeing but not processing.... I learnt about the difference between hearing and listenin

It was interesting that in a media interaction today, I was asked to wish the viewers a new year. All of a sudden it dawned that how quickly this year has passed by. Its been almost 10 months since I wrote a piece on the blog. The key question in my mind immediately after the interview was - why wait for the new year? Hence a new look and a new post. The reminder to me of the age old Indian saying  - जब जागो तब सवेरा - morning is when you wake up. Today is my new year and I am going to celebrate it with the same set of rituals. Resolutions - start any day - everyday. That's my note to myself. What is your note to yourself for this new year! All the best

It was a noble effort by my banker to invite youngsters for financial awareness programme for the wards of their clients. A renowned financial expert was the star attraction. In an interaction after the programme, I was talking to a participant and asked about the efficacy of the programme and compared to the objectives set by the bank. - need for saving - no additional learning - types of investment - marginal gain in knowledge - how each type of investment grows in future - went over my head - "X" bank takes care of investments - OK, what's the big deal The table turned, when I asked that what were the biggest learnings from a day's programme and the response was stunning: - we need to plan - we need to draw our future - have high interdependence amongst experts - all my peers are struggling with same problems but not sound them off - its easier than I thought! A skill enhancement programme worked as a behavioral transformation programme. Consumer

Interesting case narrated by a friend. Jaguar sales were very low in this part of the country with petrol version (circa 5 a year). With diesel version launch it is 5 a month. Car costs Rs 50L plus. Any insights! India continues to amaze me every day.

It was a pleasant surprise experience after moving to Mumbai when on a couple of occassions public transport (regular black/yellow or silver/blue taxi and auto rickshaws) returned me the precise amounts due to the nearest rupee. I had tweeted about the same experience and the overwhelming response to me was that it was an odd experience and I must have been extremely lucky to have met such people. I was warned that I should not get carried away with this experience. Bottomline - lack of trust between commuters and public transport. Now in the last 3 months or so, I have used public transport almost about 100 times and nearly 95+ times I have been returned the change nearest to the rupee. The repeated experience that I have in the last 3 months is completely contrary to what others have told me. The sample size is not small enough for me to classify this as a coincidence. I think this is a case of either a blind spot or a fixated mind. Going through this, I recall many instanc