March 7, 2015

Leadership for a digital enterprise

The digital workforce uses technology to buy, sell, rate a product or service and share their ideas with the world. They are opinionated and are unafraid of rating anything from their managers to their increments and HR policies on the net for all to see. They create content for the social media by constantly uploading pictures of their activities, their selfies and whatever is on their mind – everything is just a tap away on the smartphone. No process has a defined beginning and end. Everything is ongoing and continuous and this speed of continuous and open communication leaves the analog colleagues dizzy.

February 28, 2015

Leap Year Babies and Weddings

Yes, my friend is what we call a “leaping year baby”. Yes, that’s what they are called. I have never been able to call him that. Leaping year sounds the same as “leaping ear” and feels weird to visualize.

February 21, 2015

The Bell Curve of Parenting

Like everything else in life, there is a Bell Curve of parenting. There is the vast majority that is doing what everyone else is. A few are not doing anything at all and are clearly below average. A few people are doing things that make the average performer feel inadequate.

January 30, 2015

The Charm of Raga Kedar

If you think that Kedar is primarily used to express Bhakti Rasa (the emotion of devotion) then you have to listen to this song from Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962) composed by OP Nayyar and sung by Mohd Rafi and Asha Bhosle. This song is fabulous example of the use of Kedar in a romantic setting with Joy Mukherjee and Sadhna on screen.

January 28, 2015

Why is company culture hard to emulate

Apple and Samsung trade charges of intellectual property infringement. But you have never heard of anyone stealing the culture of another company. Culture is a proprietary secret that is hard to hide because every employee knows what it is. Yet, even after you know everything about a company's culture, it is impossible to replicate.

January 26, 2015

Goodbye RK Laxman – the uncommon “common man”

His caricatures always made a statement. Indira Gandhi was always shown with her nose in the air. Sanjay Gandhi was the "enfant terrible" in the pram wheeled by his mother. When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, Laxman was worried. After all if politicians did everything right, the satirists and cartoonists would be jobless. He said much to his relief very soon that Rajiv Gandhi did not disappoint the cartoonist. And Laxman remained a part of our lives.