Saturday, December 6, 2008

History Repeats... and how..!!

Consider the Following (A random article which I read somewhere) :- 

" Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."

Who said the above?

I am sure each one of you must have come across similar lines at one point or other.

Those of you who have grown-up children may have said the same things to them. Our grandparents may have similar opinion about today's generation. But have you ever wondered when this statement was first recorded?

Any guesses on the year?

No, it's not today... and not even 20 years back. You have to go back very far away in history to trace it. It is 2,400 years ago that the great philosopher Socrates (469 BC-399 BC) made this statement. 

Amazed, perplexed, bemused, shocked?

I'm sure you are.

But that's the way it is. Human nature and emotions remain the same irrespective of the era one is in.

History Repeats... and how..!!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Absolutely Amazing!

Watched 'Swades' once more today.... What a movie..... what sensibilities... sheer heart-warmer!
.... 'Yeh taara woh taara' , 'Yeh jo des hai tera....' These songs in particular are masterpieces. It's so touching.....
Love it...!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Voice of Numbers



Ask any doggedly working Business school student about which are his 3 silent killers and if s/he is seasoned enough, the answer will come pat: Balance sheets, cash-flow stmts and income stmts. Well, there are many others as well , but these three innocent looking tables are sure to give you some headache.


I am emphasizing on "Innocent", because thats what you feel like when you take that nice looking annual report in your hand. You see some smiling faces on the cover page which has lots of colors in it and also some artwork. (Reportedly, one Paris based Big technology consulting firm even hires famous French artists each year to contribute glamourized sketches on its annual reports.) The numbers look all rosy at first sight with double digit growth in everything. So you think, wow, here are the numbers, divide everything by everything else to get your ratios, go to your library to access Moody's and compare your numbers with those of the analysts. Done!


Is there only that much to it? Yes, for the starters.....But then you receive an assignment which states " Please write a report on the Strategy of *** Inc. and critically comment on the management's moves". What the heck !

After ruffling a bit and dawning yourself with the realization that those numbers were just the upper layers, you start worrying. Let's think a bit more about these in an analogical manner. Just compare it with Cricket. On any old cricket ground, you will find a big wooden scoreboard and 2-3 scorekeepers. They hang & sit on that scoreboard in order to keep changing the wooden number plates whenever a run is scored. If there's a dull phase going on in the match and not much changing of the wooden plates is required; those boys also fit in their faces through the holes meant for the number plates and look animatedly towards the whole stadium. Basically speaking, the dumb accountants are just those boys i.e. the scorekeepers who mundanely update the numbers on the wooden manual scorecard. The real match is going on in the dressing room i.e. in the corner office. And the special benefit which is enjoyed by the corporate matches is that you can always manipulate those scores sitting right in the corner office! You can always order your dumb accountant to shift numbers, manipulate depreciation rates et cetra and most of the top management in the world does this.


So, you have just been asked to scratch those bald skulls and write a report on their strategies 'to critically comment on the management'....... Best of luck.....


You have already finished reading each and every number on it and have dug your nose into the Notes section as well. I told you, there's more to those innocent statements. You end up eating, drinking, living and cursing those 3 innocent tables.

Best wishes once again..! Tommorrow is the deadline for your assignment! Spend your night scratching those bald skulls a bit more. In between that, write a blog post to curse the situation.....
But during all this time, keep your ears open : Those numbers might just whisper something to you in a bushy voice.....

Happy hunting the numbers!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Strategic Planning

McKinesy on Strategic Planning:

1° Creating prepared minds

2° Enabling creative accidents

- Bottom up strategy experimentation

- Top down strategic initiatives

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

I recently came across an awesome poem in a UN forum on web. It's written by a 14 year old African kid and has been voted most popular poem.

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow,
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray
And you calling me colored?



I went speechless after reading it.....

Amazing....!!!