Initially I thought of posting one blog every month, but then after being consistent for 3 months I found it difficult to set the pace due to unavoidable commitments. The primary reason for skipping my blog last month was because of travelling and therefore I thought it would be nice to share some of my experiences in this area.
I am not an extensive traveller or as a matter of fact travelled to a range of destinations like many can claim. But my travels to the places I have visited or been sometimes proved to be an eye opener and from such experiences I have benefitted a lot. I strongly recommend that one must travel to identify the differences, apply the best practice, make comparison and change accordingly. Ever wondered why the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Sinagpore are the best places to visit. Ok, Amsterdam might be famous for something else, but only a small percentage goes in for that. Unarguably I can say that my visits to Amsterdam and Singapore were the best and continue to be so. While both of them stay apart in their class, there is something very important to take from it. Starting with Amsterdam or Netherlands, the place is the best for the ultimate relaxation. Many talk about carbon footprint and pollution, but these people here really implement those ideas. I felt ashamed of myself when I saw men and women in their elegant suits riding a bycycle to the nearest station to catch their train for work. I am sure most of these people can afford to have their personal means of luxury transport, but working along with the government to keep their country clean. People are really friendly and they treat you as one among themselves. They are very open when it comes to helping you and even if they do not English, they try their best to communicate via body languages.
Singapore stands in a different class off it own through its tourism friendly nature. I was surprised by the fact that all citizens of Singapore have exactly the same frame of mind when it comes to customer service or more appropriately tourist service. They have long identified that their daily bread and surivial lies in the hands of the visiting tourists. It is really amazing to see the extent to which they go to deliver that extra bit. Though a concrete jungle in the making, they have tried their best to keep it green wherever they can and they try very hard it hard to maintain the attractions that their famous for. It is highly recommended that Singapore should be once visited in a lifetime. The story is entirely different if you sit in boat for a hour and cross waters to the neighbouring country "Malaysia". Malaysia, a rich country blessed with natural beauty and resources lacks that punch when it comes to service. Though it must be appreciated that for a visitor it is less expensive place, you cannot feel any warmth in reception. If I were a manager to rate an employee called Malaysia, I would put it on the "meets target" performace.
I would always rate a policeman in UK the very best and well behaved whereas in some countries they are feared more than the criminals and goons. Majority of them address you as 'sir' while in conversation with you and they maintain such presence that is very approachable. Also the levels of customer service is very high and you can be sure that you will be detailed on each an every point including the aspect of your own safety. Another important aspect what you notice here is transportion system and how it is carried out. The age old transportation system sets an example or role model on how effective it can be made used to the public.
If you ask me which is the most beautiful place on earth, from pictures I would say Kashmir, but in reality it is Scotland. Extremely cold place but the natural beauty is awe inspiring and it will atleast once flash your mind that the only heaven in the world be this place. The Scots are extremely proud of themselves and believe they are atleast two step above the English. They are pride in their history, culture, traditions and reach any extent in preserving them. Once you visit Scotland, you will know why that is the best place to produce the finest Scotch whiskies. Travelling along mainland Europe some countries especially France and Germany, their pride rests with their languages spoken. I had bitter experiences where they replied back to me in their own language when I talked in English. Later I found that, even if majority of people know English they do not like talking in it and they proudly speak their native tongue. Earlier this was only applied to visitors from neighbouring countries but now they are on a global approach. No wonder it was advised to me before I visited these places that I should learn the very basics to survive as still there are a large majority who don’t speak English especially in the outskirts.
From Europe as I moved to far east in the land of rising Sun, I learned the importance of mutual respect. You do not just alone respect people above you, but everyone you know and everyone you do not know. Japan as a country teaches so much about patience, respect, calmness and service oriented midset. I think this is why the products that come of out this country is loved equally by all as it produces it with customer in focus. The moment you set foot in this country you can witness a wave of change that you never felt anywhere else. You get the kind of respect you never received anywhere in the world and all of a sudden you feel important. Language is a big problem and English is made to bits and pieces for convenience. If you are not an ardrent seafood lover, then you are in big big trouble.
Though I have travelled other places as well I have only highlighted some of the above because I felt it is the mindset of the people that set these countries apart. For a country to progress or get moulded into a developed one, the mindset of the people that live in must be directed to it. For example, if Singapore wasn't that tourist friendly, I do not think people would visit there or recommend someone to visit there. Scottish mindset for preserving their rich heritage is what sets them apart from the English or other countries. Japan's mindset of focusing people makes it produce the finest products in the world. Each country have something to teach us and probably this is when someone said "learn from experiences".
Travelling through the length and breadth of India, I felt sad that I never met even a single Indian, but I met a lot of people who were Marathis, Gujarathis, Bengalis, Tamilians, Punjabis, Malayalees etc etc. One may say we are Unity in Diversity, but I couldn't sense that. We have states were people from other states are not welcomed, we have states where waters of rivers are not shared, we have states where people are fighting to spilt it, we have states where the national flag is not hoisted on a republic day. I do not want to point at only negatives, but projecting a rosy picture does not help us to reach the progressive path. First we need to indentify ourselves as one, work as one and then live as one. Nation should be give priority and patriotism should run through the blood. Changes do not happen in an instant therefore work should be done at a grass root level starting with our kids and their education. If measures are done now, we may see changes happening in atleast 20 years time, else God save us...
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Big fish and the Small fish
During the initial days of my MBA course while in London, one of my Professors ( I believe it was Prof Geoff Lancaster) asked us this very important question that would shape our careers for the future. His question was not so relevant at that time, but once we graduated and came out to the real world; the question kept dawning us. There is no right or wrong answer to this question but whatever answer you chose would determine the path of your career. I believe every bloke passing out should be ready and be prepared to face the question himself. The million dollar question was,
"Do you want to be a Big fish in a Small pond or a Small fish in a Big pond".
The question here is more applicable to those who are in the early phases and mid phases of their career and once thay are at their prime this becomes totally irrelevant. The Big and Small in the context of the question refers to what position you would like to start or be in the pond called as organization. There is a world of oppurtunities out there and it all comes down to you to chose the one which is more suited to the needs. You may choose to start your career as a trainee in a big company or in the middle of your career you may choose to join as a Manager in a large organizatiion which answers the question being a small fish in a big pond. From my experience and some experiences of others I learned that, starting careers as a small fish in a big pond gives you more freedom and room to grow. You have a lot of area to swim around, gaining experience swimming with other big fishes, spacious environment, vast resources and the risk of the pond getting dry in summer is less. Your encounter with lot of and different types of fishes mean that your survival depends on your ability to compete. Only the fittest, the meanest and the toughest survive such situations and out of the many only a handful come to the forefront. If you are not among them then you end up being at the back of the queue for the rest of your careers.
On the other hand starting your career at the top of the ladder or in the middle of the career you make a move to join a small company in a senior position would deem you to be a big fish in a small pond. The immediate advantages would be social status, credibility, power and fat pockets. Being a big fish here, your size limits you the freedom to move around and at times you have reached your potential growth. In this position you will not have much to learn from others and have to gain things on your own. People look up to you for advises and before taking such responsibilities, one should have enough ammunition in armoury. This is a high risk position and if you are unsuccessful in such roles, that itself may spell the end of your careers. The experience you get here can propel you to big ponds you will be always measured against your success rate.
Each of the situation has its own advantages and disadvantages and as said before there is no right or wrong answer to this question. Your right answer should suit your vision and the path that takes you to to your vision coupled with hard work, determination and immense focus. As per Abraham Maslow's heirarchy of needs the last stage for the individual need is self actualization and the ultimate goal here is to be a Big fish in a Big pond. The path that takes you there is your right answer.
"Do you want to be a Big fish in a Small pond or a Small fish in a Big pond".
The question here is more applicable to those who are in the early phases and mid phases of their career and once thay are at their prime this becomes totally irrelevant. The Big and Small in the context of the question refers to what position you would like to start or be in the pond called as organization. There is a world of oppurtunities out there and it all comes down to you to chose the one which is more suited to the needs. You may choose to start your career as a trainee in a big company or in the middle of your career you may choose to join as a Manager in a large organizatiion which answers the question being a small fish in a big pond. From my experience and some experiences of others I learned that, starting careers as a small fish in a big pond gives you more freedom and room to grow. You have a lot of area to swim around, gaining experience swimming with other big fishes, spacious environment, vast resources and the risk of the pond getting dry in summer is less. Your encounter with lot of and different types of fishes mean that your survival depends on your ability to compete. Only the fittest, the meanest and the toughest survive such situations and out of the many only a handful come to the forefront. If you are not among them then you end up being at the back of the queue for the rest of your careers.
On the other hand starting your career at the top of the ladder or in the middle of the career you make a move to join a small company in a senior position would deem you to be a big fish in a small pond. The immediate advantages would be social status, credibility, power and fat pockets. Being a big fish here, your size limits you the freedom to move around and at times you have reached your potential growth. In this position you will not have much to learn from others and have to gain things on your own. People look up to you for advises and before taking such responsibilities, one should have enough ammunition in armoury. This is a high risk position and if you are unsuccessful in such roles, that itself may spell the end of your careers. The experience you get here can propel you to big ponds you will be always measured against your success rate.
Each of the situation has its own advantages and disadvantages and as said before there is no right or wrong answer to this question. Your right answer should suit your vision and the path that takes you to to your vision coupled with hard work, determination and immense focus. As per Abraham Maslow's heirarchy of needs the last stage for the individual need is self actualization and the ultimate goal here is to be a Big fish in a Big pond. The path that takes you there is your right answer.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Working Years
Along with a group of my friends from college and work I attended a seminar not so long ago, the subject and content of the seminar was career planning and progression. All through the session the speaker was placing the importance of a good career and how to advance the ladder to reach the top. After the session I had this debate taken up with my friends to find out where their vision takes them upto; some wanted to be the CEO's, some wanted to start their own setups and be extremely successful in that, some could see them being immediate managers, some wanted to be important persons that takes them across the world etc etc. I myself wanted to answer that question, but I caught up in a dilemma- do I want to have a successful career so as to enjoy a busy life or do I want to have a quality life. Now quality is a perception; what may seem to be quality for me may not be the same quality for others, but the question remains what is a quality life?
Long ago I read a story, believe I read this in my teens. I did not fully understand its implications of how it would come into an effect on our future lives. Narrating the story, there was this man in his mid forties who used to spend his whole day sitting on a river bank and fishing using a fishing rod. Sitting for almost 4-6 hrs a day, somedays he used to catch upto 5-10 fishes and somedays return without anything. He used to take home 1-2 fishes for his meal and rest he would sell it to a local shop for small amount of money. This routine continued for long time; A successful business man who also happened to be in his mid forties came to see this continuing act and decided to advice the other man.
He went up to him and said, "Why are you wasting your time with a fishing rod to catch a few fishes, and instead buy a fishing net and in less time catch more fishes.
The first man replied, "What will I get if I catch more fishes"
The business man, " With more fishes in less time, you can sell all of them and earn more money"
The first man, "What can I then do with more money"
The business man, " With more money, you can buy a small boat"
The first man, "What can I do with a small boat"
The business man, "With small boat, you can go further into the river and catch more fish and sell for more money"
The first man, " What can I do with that more money?"
The business man, " With more money you can buy a bigger boat and go into the sea and catch more fish and sell for even more money"
The first man, " What can I do with again more money?"
The business man, " You can employ more people, buy fishing boats and send all of them to sea and earn more money catching fish"
The first man, "What can I do with even more money?"
The business man, "You can then employ more people to run your business and relax
The first man, " What do you think I am doing now?.
Most of us are like the business man, we think of earning more and more instead of earning enough. We think of living in the future when we have the option and oppurtunity to live in the present. Me myself have asked at times why should I be so busy and what for am I aiming. Should I aim to lead a better life or should I aim to lead a busier life. A busier life means, probably I will grow up the career ladder, be a CEO, travel lots of places and have more money in the bank. A busier life also means, I have less time for myself, less time for my friends, less time for my wife and kids, less time to socialize and less time to appreciate the good things in life. I will grow on to a stage where when I retire, I will have plenty of money in the bank, a good house, a decent car to travel in, but then my kids would have grown up and gone their way, lesser number of friends, relatives that are no longer closer to me and get confined to the four corners of my house. Well to me a quality life is not something like this, but enough money to survive, enjoy my kids growing up, spend time with my wife sharing our love, meet up with friends and family, celebrating every ocassions that come in, go for movies and then retire with lot of people to socialize with. However the dilemma continues because everyone has to find a balance between the two life styles.
Long ago I read a story, believe I read this in my teens. I did not fully understand its implications of how it would come into an effect on our future lives. Narrating the story, there was this man in his mid forties who used to spend his whole day sitting on a river bank and fishing using a fishing rod. Sitting for almost 4-6 hrs a day, somedays he used to catch upto 5-10 fishes and somedays return without anything. He used to take home 1-2 fishes for his meal and rest he would sell it to a local shop for small amount of money. This routine continued for long time; A successful business man who also happened to be in his mid forties came to see this continuing act and decided to advice the other man.
He went up to him and said, "Why are you wasting your time with a fishing rod to catch a few fishes, and instead buy a fishing net and in less time catch more fishes.
The first man replied, "What will I get if I catch more fishes"
The business man, " With more fishes in less time, you can sell all of them and earn more money"
The first man, "What can I then do with more money"
The business man, " With more money, you can buy a small boat"
The first man, "What can I do with a small boat"
The business man, "With small boat, you can go further into the river and catch more fish and sell for more money"
The first man, " What can I do with that more money?"
The business man, " With more money you can buy a bigger boat and go into the sea and catch more fish and sell for even more money"
The first man, " What can I do with again more money?"
The business man, " You can employ more people, buy fishing boats and send all of them to sea and earn more money catching fish"
The first man, "What can I do with even more money?"
The business man, "You can then employ more people to run your business and relax
The first man, " What do you think I am doing now?.
Most of us are like the business man, we think of earning more and more instead of earning enough. We think of living in the future when we have the option and oppurtunity to live in the present. Me myself have asked at times why should I be so busy and what for am I aiming. Should I aim to lead a better life or should I aim to lead a busier life. A busier life means, probably I will grow up the career ladder, be a CEO, travel lots of places and have more money in the bank. A busier life also means, I have less time for myself, less time for my friends, less time for my wife and kids, less time to socialize and less time to appreciate the good things in life. I will grow on to a stage where when I retire, I will have plenty of money in the bank, a good house, a decent car to travel in, but then my kids would have grown up and gone their way, lesser number of friends, relatives that are no longer closer to me and get confined to the four corners of my house. Well to me a quality life is not something like this, but enough money to survive, enjoy my kids growing up, spend time with my wife sharing our love, meet up with friends and family, celebrating every ocassions that come in, go for movies and then retire with lot of people to socialize with. However the dilemma continues because everyone has to find a balance between the two life styles.
Monday, January 4, 2010
The NRI Vacation
Recently I came back from my vacation in India and sitting back in my rented apartment in Dubai, I came to a conclusion that I was even more tired and exhausted than the whole year of work put together. We NRI's (at least in Middle East) are given specific period to take break from work, relax and come back refreshed for the next 365 days. If the ‘I’ in the NRI is replaced by any other alphabet or combination of alphabets then the resulting breed would smartly utilize their time for an eventful break. Since I belong to that ‘I’ class, I like every other ‘I’s’ always opt to go to our nativeland year after year, a big mistake if you think you can relax your break period.
I always prepare my mind before every vacation to not repeat the same mistakes I did year after year, but in the end fall to the same trap. Not many would understand this situation unless they have experienced this sort of pressure. I counted the days I’ve been in India and the days I was at home. 25 days went by enjoying my foot firmly pressed to the soil of my homeland, but hardly 4 days passed by enjoying the comfort and warmth of my own house before coming back to the rented house in Dubai. The more time I spend on roads and visits than relaxing at home. The day an NRI sets foot on the home soil, a lot of expectations also set foot on his shoulders. He is expected to meet those expectations rather than the priority of being with his own family. In the end you end up more time on transport buses, trains, taxi’s, autorikshaws or to say more time spend on movable assets than immovable assets.
I know I will repeat the same mistake in spite of writing this blog, but sometimes I feel people do not understand what it takes to get a deserved break. We NRI’s spend majority of our lives in rented apartments, away from our loved ones and away from our motherland. 90% of the time is sacrificed to live the balance 10% in quality. Huge amount of savings are spend to set up a house so that a few days of the year can be spend in it, sometimes even that becomes a distant dream.
People living in India can be so demanding that they expect those coming from abroad to come and visit them, it is a kind of right to their very existence. If the visit is not made, then it becomes a matter or pride and status and I myself make many of those visits not out of a sincere reason, but to seal the revolting mouths. At times I have prayed that if and only if those expecting me to come and visit them would understand me and people like me, our position, our valued time, our intentions, our cravings and our desperations.
I always prepare my mind before every vacation to not repeat the same mistakes I did year after year, but in the end fall to the same trap. Not many would understand this situation unless they have experienced this sort of pressure. I counted the days I’ve been in India and the days I was at home. 25 days went by enjoying my foot firmly pressed to the soil of my homeland, but hardly 4 days passed by enjoying the comfort and warmth of my own house before coming back to the rented house in Dubai. The more time I spend on roads and visits than relaxing at home. The day an NRI sets foot on the home soil, a lot of expectations also set foot on his shoulders. He is expected to meet those expectations rather than the priority of being with his own family. In the end you end up more time on transport buses, trains, taxi’s, autorikshaws or to say more time spend on movable assets than immovable assets.
I know I will repeat the same mistake in spite of writing this blog, but sometimes I feel people do not understand what it takes to get a deserved break. We NRI’s spend majority of our lives in rented apartments, away from our loved ones and away from our motherland. 90% of the time is sacrificed to live the balance 10% in quality. Huge amount of savings are spend to set up a house so that a few days of the year can be spend in it, sometimes even that becomes a distant dream.
People living in India can be so demanding that they expect those coming from abroad to come and visit them, it is a kind of right to their very existence. If the visit is not made, then it becomes a matter or pride and status and I myself make many of those visits not out of a sincere reason, but to seal the revolting mouths. At times I have prayed that if and only if those expecting me to come and visit them would understand me and people like me, our position, our valued time, our intentions, our cravings and our desperations.
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