Ranjit Patel

The best part of the movie "Pearl Harbor"

2011-11-13T12:35:00.001-08:00

Keep Leading Without A Title.

2011-08-09T00:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the fast takeaways from this trip across multiple time zones:

1. Every moment in front of another human being is an OPPORTUNITY to express your highest values and best self.

2. No matter where you go, people treat you the way you treat them.

3. No work is unimportant work. Even the most seemingly insignificant job is a chance to show us your creativity and make a contribution.

4. "Perfect Moments" can happen in the least likely of places.

5. Mastery Matters.

6. If you're not lifting others up, you're bringing others down.

7. This time is the BEST time for each of us to show our leadership+virtuosity+humanity.

8. We each have the responsibility to Lead Without a Title and do our part to build a better world through world-class work and stepping into our best selves.

The 50 New Rules of Work by Robin Sharma

2011-04-18T00:06:00.001-07:00

The 50 New Rules of Work

   1. You are not just paid to work. You are paid to be uncomfortable – and to pursue projects that scare you.
   2. Take care of your relationships and the money will take care of itself.
   3. Lead you first. You can’t help others reach for their highest potential until you’re in the process of reaching for yours.
   4. To double your income, triple your rate of learning.
   5. While victims condemn change, leaders grow inspired by change.
   6. Small daily improvements over time create stunning results.
   7. Surround yourself with people courageous enough to speak truthfully about what’s best for your organization and the customers you serve.
   8. Don’t fall in love with your press releases.
   9. Every moment in front of a customer is a moment of truth (to either show you live by the values you profess – or you don’t).
10. Copying what your competition is doing just leads to being second best.
11. Become obsessed with the user experience such that every touchpoint of doing business with you leaves people speechless. No, breathless.
12. If you’re in business, you’re in show business. The moment you get to work, you’re on stage. Give us the performance of your life.
13. Be a Master of Your Craft. And practice + practice + practice.
14. Get fit like Madonna.
15. Read magazines you don’t usually read. Talk to people who you don’t usually speak to. Go to places you don’t commonly visit. Disrupt your thinking so it stays fresh + hungry + brilliant.
16. Remember that what makes a great business – in part – are the seemingly insignificant details. Obsess over them.
17. Good enough just isn’t good enough.
18. Brilliant things happen when you go the extra mile for every single customer.
19. An addiction to distraction is the death of creative production. Enough said.
20. If you’re not failing regularly, you’re definitely not making much progress.
21. Lift your teammates up versus tear your teammates down. Anyone can be a critic. What takes guts is to see the best in people.
22. Remember that a critic is a dreamer gone scared.
23. Leadership’s no longer about position. Now, it’s about passion. And having an impact through the genius-level work that you do.
24. The bigger the dream, the more important the team.
25. If you’re not thinking for yourself, you’re following – not leading.
26. Work hard. But build an exceptional family life. What’s the point of reaching the mountaintop but getting there alone.
27. The job of the leader is to develop more leaders.
28. The antidote to deep change is daily learning. Investing in your professional and personal development is the smartest investment you can make. Period.
29. Smile. It makes a difference.
30. Say “please” and “thank you”. It makes a difference.
31. Shift from doing mindless toil to doing valuable work.
32. Remember that a job is only just a job if all you see it as is a job.
33. Don’t do your best work for the applause it generates but for the personal pride it delivers.
34. The only standard worth reaching for is BIW (Best in World).
35. In the new world of business, everyone works in Human Resources.
36. In the new world of business, everyone’s part of the leadership team.
37. Words can inspire. And words can destroy. Choose yours well.
38. You become your excuses.
39. You’ll get your game-changing ideas away from the office versus in the middle of work. Make time for solitude. Creativity needs the space to present itself.
40. The people who gossip about others when they are not around are the people who will gossip about you when you’re not around.
41. It could take you 30 years to build a great reputation and 30 seconds of bad judgment to lose it.
42. The client is always watching.
43. The way you do one thing defines the way you’ll do everything. Every act matters.
44. To be radically optimistic isn’t soft. It’s hard. Crankiness is easy.
45. People want to be inspired to pursue a vision. It’s your job to give it to them.
46. Every visionary was initially called crazy.
47. The purpose of work is to help people. The other rewards are inevitable by-products of this singular focus.
48. Remember that the things that get scheduled are the things that get done.
49. Keep promises and be impeccable with your word. People buy more than just your products and services. They invest in your credibility.
50. Lead Without a Title.

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

2011-04-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

What Is Leadership? By Robin Sharma

2011-04-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Mental Models & The Way We Make Sense of Things

2011-04-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

VERY INTERESTING AND THOUGHT PROVOKING

2011-02-21T09:38:00.001-08:00

One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big advice on the door on which it was written:

"Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym".

In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself.
The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room.

The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up.

Everyone thought: "Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!".

One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul.

There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself.

There was also a sign next to the mirror that said:

"There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU. You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself.

Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.

"The most important relationship you can have, is the one you have with yourself"

Examine yourself, watch yourself. Don't be afraid of difficulties, impossibilities and losses: be a winner, build yourself and your reality.

The world is like a mirror: it gives back to anyone the reflection of the thoughts in which one has strongly believed.

The world and your reality are like mirrors laying in a coffin, which show to any individual the death of his divine capability to imagine and create his happiness and his success.

It's the way you face Life that makes the difference.

60 TIPS FOR A STUNNINGLY GREAT LIFE by Robin Sharma

2011-02-01T23:19:00.001-08:00

1. Exercise daily.

2. Get serious about gratitude.

3. See your work as a craft.

4. Expect the best and prepare for the worst.

5. Keep a journal.

6. Read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”.

7. Plan a schedule for your week.

8. Know the 5 highest priorities of your life.

9. Say no to distractions.

10. Drink a lot of water.

11. Improve your work every single day.

12. Get a mentor.

13. Hire a coach.

14. Get up at 5 am each day.

15. Eat less food.

16. Find more heroes.

17. Be a hero to someone.

18. Smile at strangers.

19. Be the most ethical person you know.

20. Don’t settle for anything less than excellence.

21. Savor life’s simplest pleasures.

22. Save 10% of your income each month.

23. Spend time at art galleries.

24. Walk in the woods.

25. Write thank you letters to those who’ve helped you.

26. Forgive those who’ve wronged you.

27. Remember that leadership is about influence and impact, not title and accolades.

28. Create unforgettable moments with those you love.

29. Have 5 great friends.

30. Become stunningly polite.

31. Unplug your TV.

32. Sell your TV.

33. Read daily.

34. Avoid the news.

35. Be content with what you have.

36. Pursue your dreams.

37. Be authentic.

38. Be passionate.

39. Say sorry when you know you should.

40. Never miss a moment to celebrate another.

41. Have a vision for your life.

42. Know your strengths.

43. Focus your mind on the good versus the lack.

44. Be patient.

45. Don’t give up.

46. Clean up your messes.

47. Use impeccable words.

48. Travel more.

49. Read “As You Think”.

50. Honor your parents.

51. Tip taxi drivers well.

52. Be a great teammate.

53. Give no energy to critics.

54. Spent time in the mountains.

55. Know your top 5 values.

56. Shift from being busy to achieving results.

57. Innovate and iterate.

58. Speak less. Listen more.

59. Be the best person you know.

60. Make your life matter.

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

2011-01-29T05:03:00.000-08:00

Law 1

Never Outshine the Master

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2

Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies

Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Law 3

Conceal your Intentions

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 4

Always Say Less than Necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 5

So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6

Court Attention at all Cost

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7

Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8

Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

Law 9

Win through your Actions, Never through Argument

Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10

Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11

Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12

Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim

One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13

When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest,

Never to their Mercy or Gratitude

If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14

Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy

Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15

Crush your Enemy Totally

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16

Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor

Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

Law 17

Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law 18

Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous

The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19

Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person

There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20

Do Not Commit to Anyone

It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21

Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark

No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Law 22

Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power

When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23

Concentrate Your Forces

Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24

Play the Perfect Courtier

The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25

Re-Create Yourself

Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26

Keep Your Hands Clean

You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27

Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following

People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28

Enter Action with Boldness

If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29

Plan All the Way to the End

The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30

Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31

Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal

The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32

Play to People’s Fantasies

The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33

Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew

Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34

Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one

The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

Law 35

Master the Art of Timing

Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Law 36

Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37

Create Compelling Spectacles

Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38

Think as you like but Behave like others

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39

Stir up Waters to Catch Fish

Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40

Despise the Free Lunch

What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41

Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes

What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42

Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter

Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43

Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others

Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44

Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect

The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45

Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46

Never appear too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47

Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop

The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48

Assume Formlessness

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.

http://mentoredge.com/

2010-05-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher

A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could. The mentor does just that, they believe that their mentees can do it. This, in itself, is usually encouragement enough for the mentee to do their best.

Mentor Edge is a unique initiative by Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad) in collaboration with leading entrepreneurs, business professionals and academicians to provide hand-holding, mentoring and networking support to innovative start-ups across India.

10 Behaviors You Can apply NOW to Make You a More Inspiring Leader

2010-05-12T10:07:00.001-07:00

1. Use emotions more frequently. For example, express heartfelt appreciation, get excited about organizational success. Show energy and enthusiasm.

2. Reach out to people. Find more ways to interact with your subordinates. Practice management by walking around. Initiate conversations and be constructive.

3. Set an aggressive target. With the involvement of your team members, set a target that will stretch the group.

4. Practice lavish communication. Take the time to be inclusive by being diligent in passing on information that you collect to your colleagues. Controlling information is not inspiring.

5. Delegate tasks with the development of the other person in mind. Delegation can be elevated to an important discussion and can be wrapped with important messages that inspire and that generate positive motivation. “I see this project as a real opportunity to help you develop your skills in….”

6. Make having a personal development plan a priority and review it at least twice a year. Create positive consequences for having a personal development plan in place and for pursuing it.

7. Schedule regular coaching sessions with each subordinate. Make yourself available. Also, leaders who are strong in self-development are very frequently rated higher on their ability to coach and develop others.

8. Involve more people in decision making on every important issue. Seeking the opinion of others communicates that what they are doing is important and it conveys respect and appreciation and strengthens the bond with the leader.

9. Shower positive attention on new ideas. If you have a “no” approach to new ideas, you will unwittingly close down creativity and innovation. If you don’t know, ask those who work for you, they’ll know.

10. Be the example. Demonstrate to your colleagues with your actions what is valued by the organization. You may also need to selectively model behaviors that need to be emphasized in the organization. A “do as I do” approach.

Who Am i ?

2010-05-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

There is no such thing as a self made person. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.

Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team

2010-05-02T01:06:00.001-07:00

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

2010-04-27T13:17:00.001-07:00

Shukla Bose: Teaching one child at a time

2010-04-27T13:15:00.001-07:00

John Wooden on true success

2010-04-27T13:13:00.001-07:00

Derek Sivers: How to start a movement

2010-04-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

According to THOMAS J PETERS, excellence in business depends on eight ingredients.

2010-04-17T01:54:00.000-07:00

Activism, with people who 'do it, fix it (and) try it'

Excellent companies 'learn from the people they serve'.

They promote entrepreneurship and autonomy

Management learns from a 'hands-on' approach

Workers are valued as the key to achieve productivity

Excellent companies stick to their knitting, exploiting their core competencies and not pursuing wild goose chases

They keep their form simple and their staff lean;

They know how to be simultaneously tight-fitting and expansive.

Decide on how to start empowering those who reports to you

2010-04-13T22:01:00.001-07:00

First, you will need to understand the values, goals & motivations of the people who are key to your success. Once you have identified their passions & what drives them, you can align this knowledge with what you feel needs to be done in the business, if you unsure, ask your colleagues to share their aims & objectives, & to explain both what & how they wish to contribute in order to achieve this personal vision.

One of the best ways to empower your colleagues is by creating a coaching culture within your team, you could try using the GROW model as a framework for your coaching conversations:

G: What is the Goal?

R: What is reality? What point are you standing from?

O: What are your opinions? What ideas have you got to get you from R to G?

W: Which way will you go? Which options will you choose and what is your plan to get you there?

Remember that effective delegations is another proven way to start opening up to empowerment, as it gives team members a chance to take responsibility and own a goal or objective for themselves.

A good manager has at least 10 good qualities, By Bill Gates

2010-03-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

There isn't a magic formula for good management, of course, but if you're a manager, perhaps these tips will help you be more effective:

1. Choose a field thoughtfully. Make it one you enjoy. It's hard to be productive without enthusiasm. This is true whether you're a manager or employee;

2. Hire carefully and be willing to fire. You need a strong team, because a mediocre team gives mediocre results, no matter how well managed it is. One mistake is holding on to somebody who doesn't measure up. It's easy to keep this person on the job because he's not terrible at what he does. But a good manager will replace him or move him to where he can succeed unambiguously;

3. Create a productive environment. This is a particular challenge because it requires different approaches depending on the context. Sometimes you maximise productivity by giving everybody his or her own office. Sometimes you achieve it by moving everybody into open space. Sometimes you use financial incentives to stimulate productivity. A combination of approaches is usually required. One element that almost always increases productivity is providing an information system that empowers employees. When I was building Microsoft, I set out to create an environment where software developers could thrive. I wanted a company where engineers liked to work. I wanted to create a culture that encouraged them to work together, share ideas and remain motivated. If I hadn't been a software engineer myself, there's no way I could have achieved my goal;

4. Define success. Make it clear to your employees what constitutes success and how they should measure their achievements. Goals must be realistic. Project schedules, for example, must be set by the people who do the work. People will accept a "bottoms-up" deadline they helped set, but they'll be cynical about a schedule imposed from the top that doesn't map to reality. Unachievable goals undermine an organisation. At my company, in addition to regular team meetings and one-on-one sessions between managers and employees, we use mass gatherings periodically and E-mail routinely to communicate what we expect from employees. If a reviewer or customer chooses another company's product , we analyse the situation. We say to our people, "The next time around we've got to win. What's needed?" The answers to these questions help us define success;

5. To be a good manager, you have to like people and be good at communicating. This is hard to fake. If you don't enjoy interacting with people, it'll be hard to manage them well. You must have a wide range of personal contacts within your organisation. You need relationships - not necessarily personal friendships - with a fair number of people, including your own employees. You must encourage these people to tell you what's going on and give you feedback about what people are thinking about the company and your role in it;

6. Develop your people to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them. This is an exciting goal, but it can be threatening to a manager who worries that he's training his replacement. If you're concerned, ask your boss: "If I develop somebody who can do my job super well, does the company have some other challenge for me or not?" Many smart managers like to see their employees increase their responsibilities because it frees the managers to tackle new or undone tasks. There's no shortage of jobs for good managers. The world has an infinite amount of work to be done;

7. Build morale. Make it clear there's plenty of goodwill to go around and that it's not just you or some hotshot manager who's going to look good if things go well. Give people a sense of the importance of what they're working on - its importance to the company, its importance to customers;

8. Take on projects yourself. You need to do more than communicate. The last thing people want is a boss who just doles out stuff. From time to time, prove you can be hands-on by taking on one of the less attractive tasks and using it as an example of how your employees should meet challenges;

9. Don't make the same decision twice. Spend the time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don't revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you're too willing to reopen issues, it interferes not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place. People hate indecisive leadership; However, that doesn't mean you have to decide everything the moment it comes to your attention. Nor that you can't ever reconsider a decision.

10. Let people know whom to please. Maybe it's you, maybe it's your boss, and maybe it's somebody who works for you. You're in trouble and risking paralysis in your organisation when employees start saying to themselves: "Am I supposed to be making this person happy or this other person happy? They seem to have different priorities.

" I don't pretend that these are the only 10 approaches a manager should keep in mind. There are lots of others. Just a month ago I encouraged leaders to demand bad news before good news from their employees. But these 10 ideas may help you manage well, and I hope they do.
By Bill Gates

Developing your leadership skills - Steps To Success

2010-01-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

 Try to be your own person. By all means observe good leaders in action and learn what you can from them, but don’t mimic them. Be yourself, but get the training you need to take your skills to the next level.

 Remember the importance of context.there is many different management style to suit a variety of occasion. Be flexible and be prepared to change your style depending on what you need to do and who you are working with at the time.

 Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. We don’t wake up in the morning instinctively knowing how to deal with every tricky situation we might come across at work, so do ask for help if you need it .your manager, mentor, or a trusted colleague are good ports of call and their advice copied with your own thoughts about how best to approach a situation will help you as you build your own brand of leadership.

 Give yourself a chance. if you are new to a job or company, your first few months in a new role, especially one with management responsibilities ,can be challenging. Don’t get too downhearted if things don’t go to plan: everyone makes mistakes. Reflect on what has happened; think about lessons to be learned. act on them as appropriate, and move on.

 Don’t over promise. Its tempting to get people on side by telling them exactly what they want to hear, but you will end up backing yourself into a corner.

 Tread carefully at the first if you are introducing change. Peoples knee-jerk reaction to change tends to be negative, but if you bring it in gradually, you will get a less panicky response.

 Lead by example. you cant expect others to behave professionally if you don’t.

 Be very careful about what you say- and to whom- about your colleagues at work even if they are driving you mad .Use your common sense and be discreet, however angry or upset you are.

How to Be a Good Manager ?

2009-12-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

1. Motivate people. Why are the employees there? What keeps them with your organization and stops them from going somewhere else? What makes the good days good? What makes them stick with the organization after a bad day or a bad week? Don't assume it's money--most people aren't that one-dimensional. Ask the employees how they're liking their job on a regular basis. Encourage them to be honest with you. Be a good listener. Then take action based upon what they tell you. If health is important to them, give them time to go to the gym and work out. If their family is important, respect the time they may need to send their kids off to school in the morning or pick them up in the afternoon. Remember, our values are what makes us "tick". If you manage by respecting your team's values, they will give you 110% of their effort.

2. Delegate. You're a manager because you're good at what you do, but that doesn't mean you're supposed to do it ALL. Your job as a manager is to teach other people how to do a good job. If you're uncomfortable with delegating, however, this can be a huge leap of faith for you. One way to overcome this is to start small. Give people tasks that, if performed incorrectly, can be fixed. Take the opportunity to teach and empower your employees. Then gradually give them tasks with greater responsibility as you come to understand their strengths and weaknesses and learn how to anticipate any problems they might have so you can coach them properly before they begin.

3. Keep the door open. Always remind people that if they have any questions or concerns, you're ready and willing to listen. Don't be one of those managers who inadvertently makes an employee feel like they're "bothering" you when they bring up a question or concern. Instead of seeing it as another crisis to manage, look at it as an opportunity to show your employee how much you want this organization to be a fulfilling place to work. Never minimize or dismiss their concerns, and always make sure that you've answered their questions completely.

4. Let people make mistakes. As a manager, you take responsibility for other people's actions, so the last thing you want to do is be responsible for someone else's mistakes. In an attempt to be proactive and prevent mistakes, you might give careful instructions and create clear, strict standards. But are you making people afraid of mistakes? Do they always check with you about every little thing, reluctant to make their own decisions because they might not do it correctly? That ends up making the employees more dependent on you, which makes them less effective and unnecessarily drains a significant portion of your time. In order for people to think for themselves, they need to learn, and in order to learn, sometimes we need to make mistakes. Trustthem, and give them a fair margin of error.

5. Learn from your own mistakes. When things don't turn out the way you expected, recognize what you could've done differently and verbalize this realization to your employees. This shows them that you make mistakes, too, and it also shows them how they should handle their own mistakes. Whenever you're doing something correctly after having done it incorrectly in the past, let whoever is watching know. E.g. "The reason I know to press this button is because this happened to me when I first started out, and I made the mistake of pressing the blue button, thinking 'This will shut down the system, which should resolve the issue' and I found out--the hard way--that it makes the issue even worse!"

6. Treat everyone equally. Most of us aren't as egalitarian as we'd like to be. Many times, favoritism happens on a subconscious level. The tendency is to give more positive recognition to the people who remind us of ourselves somehow and who actually like us, rather than to the people who make the biggest contributions to the organization.[1] In the long run, it's people in the latter group who will make the most progress in achieving the organization's goals, so monitor your own behavior carefully and make sure you're not accidentally short-changing them, even if they give you the impression that your positive regard doesn't affect them. Some people shy away from positive feedback but appreciate it nonetheless.

Tips

• Celebrate success with your team, whether it's by giving them a pat on the back, taking them to lunch, or giving them the afternoon off.

• Avoid making them stay back after normal working hours. Respect their time and personal commitments and they will reciprocate by producing exceptional results for their manager and the organization.

• Forget about your credentials. Education didn't make you a better manager. But experience can contribute to becoming a good manager.

• As manager try to communicate with your employees in proper way and avoid making them feel down.

Warnings

• Being a good manager doesn't mean being a people pleaser. If an employee keeps crossing the line or failing to meet expectations, use a feedback sandwich or nonviolent communication to correct the situation.

• If that fails, consider firing them.

Source:WikiHow

5 Mantras of Great Thinker Prof. C. K. Prahalad

2009-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

C.K. Prahalad has spent most of his life thinking about how companies run. He has consulted to the likes of AT&T, Philips Electronics, and Sony. Now he's in the hot seat as chairman of Praia Inc. Here's what he has learned so far.

# When the going is roughest, leadership matters.
# Successful managers embrace discomfort.
# Great leaders stay on message.
# It's not one person. It's not the team. It's both.
# Think? Act? Balance the two.

When the going is roughest, leadership matters. In times of trouble, Prahalad says, "leaders must behave like emotional and intellectual anchors. There are no external cues now. The critical issue is about faith, passion, and, most importantly, authenticity -- so that people know you are not pretending. People can see a sham."

Successful managers embrace discomfort. "If you do precisely what you're supposed to do," Prahalad says, "and you're boxed in, then you're going to do that very well." But if pressed to do things that aren't in your normal job description, he says, the challenge can push you to a new level of achievement.

Great leaders stay on message. For Prahalad, nothing is more important than reminding people what the company stands for. "I spend a lot of time talking about what we're doing in terms of strategy," he says. "You have to give the same message over and over again."

It's not one person. It's not the team. It's both. A painting of a pack of wolves in Prahalad's office symbolizes the combination of leadership and teamwork that pervades successful organizations. "With wolves, solidarity is first," says Prahalad. "But when they hunt, they change roles. The implicit hierarchy depends on who does what." In an organization, he adds, "one unique person makes a difference, but you need teamwork to make it happen."

Think? Act? Balance the two. Says Prahalad: "In a company like ours, if we want to do something, we can just call a meeting. But in a small company, you have to exercise caution and build your own personal dampers so that you don't act on everything. Sometimes not acting may be smart. But if I get the feeling that everybody's becoming so thoughtful that nobody's doing anything, I want to go and light some fires somewhere."

Business-plan contents from beginning to end

2009-10-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

Business plans come in all shapes, sizes, formats — even colors — but they all share a similar framework. The following components, presented in the order they generally appear, are common elements in most business plans:

Table of contents: This element is a guide to the key sections in your business plan and is especially useful if your plan exceeds ten pages. Executive summary: This section is a summary of the key points in your
business plan. You should incorporate it if your plan runs more than ten pages and you want to convey important information upfront. Because many readers dig no deeper than your executive summary, you want to keep it clear, captivating, and brief — in fact, try to keep it to two pages or less.

Company overview: This section describes your company and the nature of your business. It may include your company’s mission and vision statements as well as descriptions of your values, your products or services, ways your company is unique, and what business opportunities you plan to seize.

Business environment: This section includes an analysis of your industry and the forces at work in your market; an in-depth description of your direct and potential competitors; and a close look at your customers,
including who they are, what they want, and how they buy products or services. Think of this section this way: It describes everything that affects your business that’s beyond your control.

Company description: In this section, include information about your management team, your organization, your new or proprietary technology, your products and services, your company operations, and your
marketing potential. Focus on areas where you have real advantages over your competition.

Company strategy: Here’s where you detail your road map to the future. This section brings together the information about your business environment and your company’s resources and then lays out a strategy for
going forward. Included in this section is your analysis of the opportunities, threats, and uncertainties that your business faces along with the ways you plan to avoid pitfalls and take advantage of opportunities.

Marketing plan: This section is where you describe how you plan to reach prospects, make sales, and develop a loyal clientele. Because customers and sales are essential to your company’s success, this
section is a major component of your business plan.

Financial review: This section includes a detailed review of dollars and cents, including the state of your current finances and what you expect your financial picture to look like in the future. It typically contains financial statements, including an income statement, your balance sheet, and a cash-flow statement. (If any of these terms seem foreign to you, or if you want step-by-step financial planning advice.

Action plan: In this section, you detail the steps involved in implementing your business plan, including the sequence of actions and how they align with your goals and objectives.

Appendixes: This section includes detailed information that supports your business plan. It may include analyses, reports, surveys, legal documents, product specifications, and spreadsheets that deliver a rounded understanding of your business plan but which are of interest to only a small number of your readers.

Theory ‘ i ’ Management” by Arindam Chaudhuri

2009-09-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

The need to have an Indian Style of Management

How often has one heard of an American organization adopting the Japanese management style to surge ahead? How often has one heard of the reverse? Probably never. However, I do remember reading somewhere that when IBM-USA was making losses while IBM-Japan was making profits, IBM-USA tried to adopt the Japanese management style to turn around. The result was increased losses.

Predictable? Should be. It is most likely that a style that is successful in Japan would not be as successful in the US and vice versa. People are different, the cultures are different and so is the life-style. That is the reason why Japan has developed its own management style and the US its own. If we take a deep look into the American management style, we realise that it is absolutely fine tuned to the American culture and way of living. The people in the west grow up, mostly, with very less emotional security due to factors like high divorce rates, single parent families etc. As they grow up they do tend to find a sense of stability in this seemingly unstable and insecure atmosphere. Thus, when they enter into their job lives and see a management culture prevalent, which is contractual in nature with hire and fire style of management, they don't get disturbed. In fact, this motivates them to work harder and a typical American would say, "we are tough guys and as long as we are good the company keeps us, else we go out". The bottom line is that the fine-tuning between the cultures at home and at job works wonders and enhances productivity and motivation.

Looking at the Japanese companies one finds concepts of lifetime employment working wonders out there. A Japanese finds a bonded culture in his organisation, unlike the American contract culture. If we look into the Japanese life style and culture we would find the importance of bonds being very high. The Japanese have strong family ties and a strong sense of community. From such an upbringing, they feel at home when they see a bonded style of management on the job. The typical Japanese would say, "I am a Honda man (and not that I work for Honda)" displaying the bond that he shares with his company. The point that gets highlighted again is that a management style, which flows out of your own culture and roots would any day, motivates your people much more than one, which is adopted from somewhere else.

The basics of "Theory 'i' Management"

Like Theory 'X' which tried to define a worker in its own manner as a mindless lazy rascal who loves shirking responsibilities and the Theory "Y" which tried to define the worker as an ambitious responsible citizen looking for the right environment to contribute constructively, Theory 'I' is an attempt to understand and define the Indian worker just like the Japanese had tried to do with their Theory "Z".

In spite of India having some of the best management schools of the world and the best reservoir of skilled human talent, our organizations have not been able to do well. Amongst other reasons one of the most important reasons for the failure of Indian management has been our failure to develop an indigenous management style, which revolves around our cultural roots and upbringing. An Indian grows up in a system, where family ties and a sense of belongingness get an absolute top priority. Coming from this environment, he gets a shock, when he sees the job environment practicing American philosophies of contractual style of management. He is not able to adjust productively to this cultural mismatch and thus, very often, fails to be as productive as his Japanese or American counterpart.

An Indian worker is perhaps looking at a system without ruthless management practices and inhuman work pressure even if the job security is a little less. Instead of the system (specially in PSU's) giving them near 100% job security, it could give them some fear of job security, since Indians culturally like to take life easy and tend to become complacent in such situations. While, the job security aspect could be reduced the human touch in managing them could be increased. They should be made to feel that the company cares for them through regular training programmes, family welfare schemes etc. They should be made to feel that they matter in the organization through programmes, which involve them directly or indirectly into various decision-making processes. This would increase their level of commitment for the organizations and perhaps tomorrow we would also see people telling, "I am a Bajaj man" instead of "I am working for Bajaj scooters". In one of my workshops Sr. Manager - Corporate Planning of NTPC, P. Purukayastha could not agree more and cited two beautiful examples. The first related to NTPC spending up to Rs. 5 crore on the medical expenses in US for one of its drivers and his wife who were affected by incurable diseases. This incident of humanity has been a motivating factor for all employees for years. The second related to his own experience where he made flexi timing for one of his workers whose wife was ill. This not only removed the troubled look from his face but also made him one of the most motivated workers who was always ready to give more than 100% to his job once his wife became alright. These two incidents can explain how human touch can do wonders on an average Indian psyche. I would even go up to the extent of suggesting that professional studies could be made a part of on the job training like in Japan and not that people first get trained and then wander around for jobs like in the US. It has to be kept in mind that the Japanese without a single business school of repute have produced some of the most successful corporations in the last 50 years, while with so many reputed management schools the US has not been able to stop the entry of one after another of the Japanese organisations into the Fortune 500 list. Again out here I might add that Mr. Purakayastha himself went through a training program after which the company, based upon the results of the test, decided to shift him from industrial relations to corporate planning which has been one of the most motivating aspects of his job.

The idea that I want to suggest is that it is high time Indian companies thought sincerely about their people and developed "Indian - people friendly management" practices. They might have some American touch or some Japanese touch but the thought essentially has to be given on what will suit the Indians. The sad part is that successful Indian managers who have developed indigenous styles of management don't end up theoreotising their styles and propagating them through books or articles. In the US almost every semi-successful manager ends up writing a book and thus, today one does know how IBM is managed, but one doesn't know about how an Indian corporation like, may be, the Reliance Group is managed. So, when it comes to learning management the only option is to refer to foreign books and learn foreign management styles.

The Principles of "Theory 'i' Management"

Most Indians value bonds emotions and long-term relationships.

Most Indians value growth opportunities and commitment.

Our cultural roots (of tolerance etc.) often make us complacent.

Lack of patriotism at a macro level leaves us aimless.

What do these principles prove?

These principles have been arrived at after a thorough research that we conducted on more than 3000 managers across the country. The managers were asked to talk about their colleagues across functions and levels. The most important revelation from this survey is about the uniqueness of today's Indian psyche. On one hand as expected, the first two points go on to prove our cultural values and a lot of similarities can be drawn with the Japanese value systems. On the other hand when faced with the fact that everything Indian is so cool outside India, Bhangra and Indipop find place in the US pop charts, the global IT revolution has been fuelled by homegrown geeks, in Ohio the Wright State University College of Business and Administration gets renamed after an NRI businessman, our B-school graduates are becoming global leaders, NASA has top Indian scientists, yet Indians have time and again failed to perform in India ; Indian's like to blame it on complacency, a characteristic that they like attributing to our culture ! It seems Indian's look for the first opportunity to become complacent; something that they are unable to become in the western world of competition and hire and fire system. Not only this, when faced with the question about the lack of patriotic instincts and decaying values; they love to blame it on their leaders. Somebody says if our Prime Minister can be bribed Rs 1 crore by a stock broker, what's wrong in taking bribes; somebody else says if my general manager can take a bribe from the company's travel agent what's wrong if I get some account through corrupt practices? One might argue that even in Japan there is corruption. The reality however is that in Japan corruption doesn't touch everyday human existence the way it does in India and moreover they have a more effective judicial system, which even their presidents can't escape. The other day I read that in Uttar Pradesh fire brigade people have started to ask for bribes before starting to put off the fire! Criminalization of daily life is to such an extent that every individual is actually being turned into a criminal.

The socio - cultural and geo-political environment in India has today resulted into a mixed breed of Indians who on one hand retain family values and a longing for emotional touch and on the other hand are complacent (given the first opportunity to be) and unashamed of being morally bankrupt

9 lessons from Google, Jim Lecinski, managing director for Google

2009-08-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

Jim Lecinski, managing director for Google. broke down his company’s innovation strategy into nine notions. Each notion contains an important lesson that all professionals can learn from.

1. Innovation, not instant perfection. Google believes in launching new products and ideas early and often, rather than trying to perfect those ideas behind closed doors before releasing them to the public. Then, customer feedback and popularity prove which projects are most successful.

2. Share everything you can. Small teams that communicate openly have proved the best results for Google. They believe in transparency in the workplace so that everyone knows what everyone else is working on. (Scary, right?) They have a computer program where employees can look up names and see what others are working on, so if they have an idea to contribute they know who to talk to.

3. You’re brilliant, we’re hiring. When Google interviews employees, Lecinski said they set the bar very high. They focus more on hiring generalists rather than specialists, as they have found generalists are more valuable and can contribute ideas to different parts of the company.

4. Allow employees to pursue their dreams. Lecinski said Google allows its employees’ time in a 70/20/10 model. Seventy percent of the time they work on Google’s search and ad flagships; they develop new programs like Images, Desktop and Finance 20 percent of the time; and 10 percent of the time employees are allowed to pursue their own high risk/high reward projects. Lecinski said Google Earth is a result of one of those projects.

5. Ideas come from everywhere. Sometimes Google turns to the public for new ideas. The Google mastheads, which are customized for holidays and events, are taken from non-employee submissions. One of the mastheads was designed by a 12-year-old girl.

6. Don’t politic – use data. With all the ideas floating around Google, the best way to determine which may work is to use supportive data. As Lecinski said, “Data beats opinion.”

7. Creativity loves restraint. Again, Google has to have some way to keep all of the employee-generated ideas streamlined towards the company’s goals. “Let people explore, but set clear boundaries for that exploration,” Lecinski said.

8. Get users and usage – the money will follow. This goes back to one of Lecinski’s larger points, “respect for end users,” but is a principle to follow in any form of business. He says to focus on creating things that are innovative and useful for people, not something you can sell.

9. Don’t kill projects, morph them. Google doesn’t waste ideas. Instead, they try to change and transform them into something the company finds useful.

10 most important reasons why happiness at work is the #1 productivity booster by Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer

2009-07-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Here are the 10 most important reasons why happiness at work is the #1 productivity booster.

1: Happy people work better with others
Happy people are a lot more fun to be around and consequently have better relations at work. This translates into:

Better teamwork with your colleagues
Better employee relations if you’re a manager
More satisfied customers if you’re in a service job
Improved sales if you’re a sales person

2: Happy people are more creative
If your productivity depends on being able to come up with new ideas, you need to be happy at work. Check out the research of Teresa Amabile for proof. She says:

If people are in a good mood on a given day, they’re more likely to have creative ideas that day, as well as the next day, even if we take into account their mood that next day.

There seems to be a cognitive process that gets set up when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there’s actually a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.

3: Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them
When you don’t like your job, every molehill looks like a mountain. It becomes difficult to fix any problem without agonizing over it or complaining about it first. When you’re happy at work and you run into a snafu – you just fix it.

4: Happy people have more energy
Happy people have more energy and are therefore more efficient at everything they do.

5: Happy people are more optimistic
Happy people have a more positive, optimistic outlook, and as research shows (particularly Martin Seligman’s work in positive psychology), optimists are way more successful and productive. It’s the old saying “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re probably right” all over again.

6: Happy people are way more motivated
Low motivation means low productivity, and the only sustainable, reliable way to be motivated at work is to be happy and like what you do. I wrote about this in a previous post called Why “motivation by pizza” doesn’t work.

7: Happy people get sick less often
Getting sick is a productivity killer and if you don’t like your job you’re more prone to contract a long list of diseases including ulcers, cancer and diabetes. You’re also more prone to workplace stress and burnout.

One study assessed the impact of job strain on the health of 21,290 female nurses in the US and found that the women most at risk of ill health were those who didn’t like their jobs. The impact on their health was a great as that associated with smoking and sedentary lifestyles (source).

8: Happy people learn faster
When you’re happy and relaxed, you’re much more open to learning new things at work and thereby increasing your productivity.

9: Happy people worry less about making mistakes – and consequently make fewer mistakes
When you’re happy at work the occasional mistake doesn’t bother you much. You pick yourself up, learn from it and move on. You also don’t mind admitting to others that you screwed up – you simply take responsibility, apologize and fix it. This relaxed attitude means that less mistakes are made, and that you’re more likely to learn from them.

10: Happy people make better decisions
Unhappy people operate in permanent crisis mode. Their focus narrows, they lose sight of the big picture, their survival instincts kick in and they’re more likely to make short-term, here-and-now choices. Conversely, happy people make better, more informed decisions and are better able to prioritize their work.

So how do you get to be happy at work? There are two ways, really:

1. Get happy in the job you have. There are about a million things you can do to improve your work situation – provided you choose to do something, rather than wait for someone else to come along and do it for you.

2. Find a new job where you can be happy. If your current job is not fixable, don’t wait – move on now!

Are You A Great Worker? by Paul T. P. Wong

2009-06-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a set of 21 questions to measure whether you are a great worker, who provides added values to your organization. Reflect on your answers and decide on how to improve yourself:

1. Do you consistently make the extra effort to find better ways to improve your performance at work?

2. Do you dedicate some time to self improvement and self education?

3. Do you always do your best regardless of the circumstances?

4. In the last week, did you ever encourage someone at work, whether it is your co-worker, supervisor or subordinate?

5. Do you often go beyond the call of duty to help someone in your organization?

6. Have you ever used your power or position to make things difficult for other workers?

7. Has anyone ever commented that you are such a positive person or have a very positive influence at work?

8. Have you intentionally done something to make the work place more pleasant and positive place to work?

9. Have you intentionally said something good about your co-worker or boss?

10. Have you take credits for the great ideas from others?

11. Have you ever used bureaucratic control to assert your power?

12. Do you accentuate the positive in every situation?

13. Are you generous in sharing information and other resources with others?

14. Do you celebrate co-workers’ success?

15. Have you ever sabotaged co-workers to make sure that they do not outshine you?

16. Do you love your work in spite of the negative sides?

17. Do you speak up with honesty and respect if senior management plan to do something that may have a negative effect on morale and productivity?

18. Have you ever blamed others for your mistakes or poor performance?

19. Do you frequently provide suggestions to your superior on how to improve the process and increase productivity?

20. Have you ever bad-mouthed your co-workers in order to make yourself look good.

21. Do you do everything within your power to contribute to corporate success, even when your efforts are not recognized or rewarded?

A.R. Rehman & You

2009-05-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

A.R. Rehman has practically become a living legend in the music industry. With success following him with every passing year, the 43 year old soft spoken maestro still prayers before every composition and chooses to love in all he is and all he does. With a humble beginning to worldwide recognition at the Oscars, his journey has been the path less trodden. Here is following A.R. Rehman to his stardom and leading you to yours.

1.Train well: A.R. Rehman started playing the piano at age of 4. And ever since he has trained under almost every great musician the industry has had to offer. Be aware that learning takes time, money and above all humility. You cannot expect to earn before you learn. And when you do get to learn, take it to the point of mastery like Rehman did.

2.Go the extra mile when you start: At the age of 19, Rehman used to play the keyboard for Zakir Hussain’s troupe and even after his work, he would stay back in the studio, sitting through other musicians pieces, eyes and ears tuned in, constantly imbibing. How far you want to go in your life is determined by how far you will go in your quest to learn and get better.

3.There is no substitute for experience: Before Rehman composed his first song for films, he had the experience of 300 jingles behind him. And before he composed his first jingle, he had 10 years experience of playing music in concerts, big and small. And before Rehman got his first Oscar, he had 39 years of active music experience behind him. Success is a series of experiences, the more the experience, the closer you are to success.

4.Work comes first, money follows: Even though Rehman’s advertising career was flourishing he accepted to compose music for Mani Ratnam at Rs.25,000. It was a sum that he could make in three days composing ad jingles. But he did the project for the sake of expressing his talent and not for the money. If you want to make a new start, focus on your work, the money will follow.

5.Work your options well: Rehman was a well trained musician but before starting something new he worked his options out well in advance. Before he quit advertising to take up music composition for films he learnt driving so that he could at least temporarily survive as a driver in case the film world ended for him.

6.Have a work philosophy: Rehman has a very strict work philosophy, "Rather than making money, I believe in making people happy; all other things are secondary.” If your work makes people happy, you are in business and on the path of progress.

7.Treat others with dignity and importance: It is every singer’s dream to work with A R Rehman because he makes you feel like God. His singers even go to the extent of saying that he makes you feel as if you are AR Rehman and he is just an ordinary fellow. When you treat people with importance you put them in a state of peak performance. And when your team, department and colleagues perform well, overall you stand to win too.

8.Get the best out of your team: Rehman tries to extract something extra from every one of his musicians as well as his playback singers. He believes in their additional input. And with that he makes a point to improvise, every single time. Getting the opinions of those involved in your project is the smarted thing one can do to in order to project a master piece to the world.

9.Work with people: According to Rehman his best music comes when there's an exchange of ideas, when there are stories that inspire him. Connecting with people and his team and picking their brains keeps his creativity to the highest.

10.Learn to say no: Rehman’s philosophy is simple, "To achieve something you have to take the risk of offending someone by saying no.” He can only do so many films and can compose only so many songs and has to turn down others because he just can’t do it all. Saying no is important to remain in the business of quality.

11.There is no burnout in work: Rehman believes that a burnout occurs when one is not happy with what he is doing. If you are doing work out of family pressures or financial hassles, keep your eye rested on your passion, and follow it with the first opportunity. Because if you enjoy what you do, you will never want to take a break.

12.Success is a start, not an end: On winning the Oscar’s, which is a lifetime achievement for many, Rehman was humble enough to say "It's a starting point in my career”. When you succeed, you have only started. The true journey of responsibility and creativity begins here on.

by - Priya Kumar, THE ONE MINUTE COACH

Use your voting right for a better INDIA

2009-05-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section ” 49-O” that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn’t want to vote anyone!

Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these leaders have never disclosed it.
This is called “49-O”.

Why should you go and say ” I VOTE NOBODY”… because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received “49-O” votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them.

This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way; of our whole political system…. it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public….

Please spread this news to as many as you know…
Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India … show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting… so don’t miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this info on…

Use your voting right for a better INDIA
For more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49-O

“Chanakya Niti” - Developing Leaders

2009-04-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Chanakya was an ancient teacher / trainer from India who transformed one of his students “Chandragupta Maurya” as a great king from scratch. Chandragupta Maurya was the grandfather of the great king “Ashoka”.

Chanakya had also played the role of a strategic leader to ensure defeat of Alexander when the latter had attacked India. Chanakya has shared his knowledge and philosophies through his huge literatures which mainly include the books popularly known as “Chanakya Niti” and “Kautilya’s Arthashastra”. “Chanakya Niti” can be considered as his overall management philosophies which have many verses in Sanskrit language.

RAJYA-MULAM-INDRIYA JAYAH: Those who have complete control over their senses can become great leaders. To ensure the same we should learn to keep control over our ‘Mind’ which manages our thoughts, speech and physical actions. Our senses are influenced by Material Desires. Our true inner self, the soul is linked to the body through mind. Meditation helps in self-realization, which helps in controlling senses utilization, by developing control over mind.

JIT-ATMA SARVAYEH SAMYUJYET: The super souls, who are self-disciplined and self controlled, lead their life with an objective of serving others in a selfless state of mind and achieve great success for all forms of lives across the globe. Thus indirectly the ones who are short visionary, greedy and selfish; they ill affect the wellbeing of the world at large.

NASTY-AHANKAR SAMAH SATRU: There can be no other enemy as dangerous as our own ego. The ego of material achievements like money, fame, power etc. are related to our current form of life as a human-being which is temporary in nature. We are spiritual beings having physical existence until we achieve salvation. We should keep ourselves detached from the trap of ego attracted by our material achievements related to our current form of material life.

SARVA- JAYATYA KRODHA: The one who can conquer anger can conquer everything.

PRIYA-VADINO NA SATRU: The one, who speaks politely and pleasantly, makes no enemies.

SARVASYA BHUSHANAM VINAYA: The best ornament of all is humbleness.

SAT-YEN DHARYATE LOKAH: The commitment to truth leads to real success and true happiness across the globe forever.

NASTI DEHINA SUKH-DUKHA-BHAV: Happiness and sorrow are two sides of a coin i.e. our life. Success and failure are parts of the life cycle. Our failures teach us to be careful the next time by not repeating the same mistakes again. Success in one commitment may guide us to succeed in other tasks which are yet to be performed in life. Learn from past failure and success, but live in present. This will help us to plan for the future in a much better way.

TRUSHNAYA MATI-CHHADHYATE: Influence of extreme material desires destroys the conscience. The one who gets trapped by extreme materialism can not understand the power of spiritual intelligence and gets biased only towards illusory and deceptive material intelligence.

DUKHANAM-AUSHADHAM-NIVARNAM: The final solution to all the worries, problems and formalities attached to material forms of lives is only Salvation / Moksha / Nirvana. Salvation is the peak of spiritual growth. It is the ultimate peace and happiness for the completely enlightened soul having no “KARMA” balance. It’s our permanent liberation from the slavery of temporary material forms of lives on material planets Viz. Earth, Heaven and Hell.

VIDHYA-ARVYAPITA KHYATI: Knowledge fetches respect and real success. Learning is a continuous and never ending process. We should always be ready to learn with an open mind.

YATHA BIJAM TATHA NISPATI: We reap what we sow i.e. Law of Karma.

Dhoni's Success Principles

2008-10-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a great inspiration to me. I am always on the look out for people who rise in ranks, faster and stronger than others do.

When India won the Twenty20 world cup, what touched me most despite the fact that the boys played well, was Dhoni’s heart winning performance and speech. Following up on Dhoni I found an underlying success philosophy which can easily be applied by anyone who aspires for greatness in his or her field of endeavor.

Success is the Sweetest Revenge:
Before the Twenty20 world cup finals, Ravi Shastri had expressed his doubts on India’s victory because he felt it was pre mature for Dhoni to be the captain and it was a team of youngsters. This came from the fact that the world cup was lost by a senior team. With the victory at the Twenty20 Dhoni proved Ravi Shastri wrong and took great pleasure in quoting him at his speech after the match. It does not matter what others predict about you, everyone has the right to their opinion, and success is the sweetest revenge to shut people up, temporarily :O)

Take responsibility for your vision:
Dhoni knew that at the Twenty20 no one expected them to win, and so his philosophy was that they could actually play and have fun and make this their best game. I have heard many a professional say that their seniors don’t encourage them or push them forward. They use this excuse to remain where they are and lay the responsibility of their success and progress on everyone but themselves. Dhoni led his team to success, by taking up the responsibility of their victory, when no one else had faith in them.

Respect and Recognize your team:As a captain Dhoni has tremendous respect for his team and his players. Even on winning he addressed Yuvi as the Trump Card of the team. I have seen seniors hog the glory of their teams success by themselves. Dhoni knows that what leads the team to victory is the team, not necessarily the captain. And he is humble and fair enough to put the credit where it really belongs.

Do your job right:
I love Dhoni’s attitude where he was aware that he didn’t have good bowlers like Bentley, but he banked on Jogender Sharma. Even though others said he was slow, Dhoni stuck to his belief that to win you don’t have to be quick or extra ordinary. If one bowls in the right places it will add to the victory of the team. Dhoni is amazing, he believes that you don’t need extra ordinary talent to be a winner; you need to play the right game. When you do your work well, and well enough consistently, victory will always be yours. A lot of people use lack of talent and expertise to remain in mediocrity. They feel they are too old, too young, too slow, too fast, too fat, and too thin, as excuses for their mediocre thinking. If your mind is made up, then nothing else matters. Dhoni’s belief is a true example of that.

Make peace with the consequence of your decision:
I also love the fact that once Dhoni makes a decision he is willing to live with the consequence. He made a decision that Joginder bowl against Harbhajan Singh. He was prepared to win with it and prepared to lose with it. I feel that is an amazing attitude. A lot of people make decisions and then they are not at peace with the results. If you can make peace with failure before you play to win, nothing can take victory away from you.

Convert Pressure into Passion:
At the Twenty20 finals, Dhoni He didn’t want the team to work under pressure. He told his team this in every meeting, “Guys we are out here to enjoy. We will give our 100% and whatever is the outcome, I don’t care about it.” There was no fear amongst the youngsters, which was so refreshing to see. He told Yuvi that even Australia was under pressure because they have the reputation of winning. He took the pressure and converted it into passion, and we saw that so evidently on the field. Take all of your pressure and steam it off in fun. Having fun doesn’t mean being irresponsible, it means working with your best self.

Win more than you lose:
When Dhoni was asked, how he plans to maintain his position of India’s captain, he said, “We will win more matches than we lose.” He didn’t say that he will win them all, because he knows that losing is a lesson towards winning. A lot of us drive ourselves crazy by expecting to win every time we get on with our work. There will be good deals and bad deals, good days and bad days; success is about creating the good ones more often than the bad ones.

Be consistent in your performance:
When you go out and deliver your best, there is a catch. You now have to deliver excellence consistently and it also raises the expectations of your seniors. Dhoni is every aware of that after his mega innings at Vizag against Pakistan. He knows that he gave his 100 percent in that and that it was his BEST performance. He also knows that has raised the expectations of his fans from him to deliver that consistently. And he is working hard on himself to deliver to that expectation. No matter how hard your day, be consistent in your delivery if not better.

All training is useful:
Dhoni started out as a footballer and that training helped him in cricket too. There is really no waste in practice and knowledge, it’s like a universal formula, Success in one area, training in one area always finds use in another. There are no wasted moments or experiences in life. You can use success strategies of one area to help you win in another. Dhoni is an expert in that. You have surely been a success at some area or the other in life, use those principles and duplicate it in your work. One lady won the national level badminton championship, the principles she used to win the championship can easily be translated to her work profile. Try it, if it works for Dhoni, it will work for you.

Physical Fitness is important for success:
Dhoni attributes his success a lot towards his physical fitness. And it is true for anyone, if you are not fit; you can’t be a hit at anything that you do, period. With people taking their bodies for granted, they expect their mind to work magic. The mind lives in the body, to deliver peak performance in any area of work, you need to be physically fit.

Repeat your success:
Dhoni always aspires to out do himself. He sets a record for himself and then aspires to beat it. His philosophy is that if he can score just one more run like he did 148 in Vizag, then he can continue to be his best. He feels that if he can do it once, he can do it again! That’s the spirit. Whenever you deliver work well done, your next strategy should be to repeat that as many times as you can. Repeated success is true success. If you can do it once, you sure can do it again.

Work your way up:
Dhoni climbed the ranks. He is a true example of rising to the top,
Dhoni is an aggressive right-handed batsman and wicket keeper. Dhoni is one of the wicket-keepers who have come through the ranks of junior and India A cricket teams to represent the national team He worked his way up and was consistent in his performance that was the crucial key to his selection in the Indian Cricket team. Don’t be afraid to start at the bottom, that is a more stable way to the top, to have been through every rung.

Constant and Never Ending Improvement:
Dhoni believes in constant and never ending improvement. Success and victory don’t go to his head. When he wins he celebrates and then right after that gets down to practice on how he can do better in order to maintain his score if not beat it. Success is not an accident, it is a planned event, “My mind is constantly working on how I can get better at my game. My mind never stops.” Says Dhoni. Finding better and new ways to do the same thing that you are doing will keep you creative and excited. Either you are improving or you are deteriorating, progress is success.

Exuberate Enthusiasm:
Dhoni is always bubbling with enthusiasm. His spirit is evident in his voice and his face. It’s great to see someone so alive and so passionate about his game. Today what meets the public eye is the glory, but what they cannot see is that there was also a road full of obstacles that led there. It sometimes is a dark lonely road and you have only your own desire and courage that will bring you to the light. Dhoni, a Ranchi boy who through his sheer courage and focus made the country proud is an example of the unshakeable enthusiasm and spirit. Make enthusiasm and excitement a daily practice.

Success takes time:
When Dhoni was given a chance in the one-day series in Bangladesh, though he did nothing extraordinary in the three ODIs against Bangladesh, it was only a matter of time before he exploded on the big stage, and that happened at Vizag . So success doesn’t come instantly. There will be hitches and glitches and bad games and not so good games. You have to be at it until you strike the balance and then maintain it. Life is always a learning experience and success is about putting that experience to get better.

Self Confidence Helps:
Self-confidence has always been a trade mark of Dhoni’s personality. I have always seen him very confident and aggressive. And it applies in his batting as well as wicket keeping. Self confidence is a learnt personality trait; it comes from constantly challenging oneself, winning or losing, not being the criteria. Self confidence comes in facing one’s fears and moving ahead despite any and every odd. Challenge yourself daily, to be bigger and better than you are today.

Be the best in all your roles:
Dhoni is a pro at multi tasking. He is an ace batsman and also an ace wicket keeper. So can you imagine the level of practice he needs to do in order to achieve mastery in both? It’s like having a group of companies under your umbrella and make them all work. It’s like excelling as a CEO and excelling as father. It’s a full game when you excel in all your roles. Dhoni believes that he can't afford to be less than 100 percent in any of the two roles. He feels they complement each other and give him his identity.” Same way, one has to give 100% in any and every role that they play. All roles shape our identity.

Focus on your performance:
When Dhoni aspired to play test cricket, his focus was “I think if I perform well, and maintain my form, I will definitely get a break in Test cricket.” A lot of people want many things in life. Their focus becomes the achievement and they feel that it must be served to them just because they want it. To achieve your desire you need to perform well and maintain your form. You get noticed for your performance not your potential and Dhoni put his potential into performance and earned his space in test cricket.

Have a role model:Dhoni has a role model, the famous cricketer Gilchrist, do you? How arrogant can someone get not to acknowledge that they need a helping hand, a little guidance and a role model? All successful people have had someone they looked up to. They have followed enough to be good leaders themselves. Leaders are not born, they are followers who find their own identity in the journey, and hence lead by their own transformation. In today’s world of abundant negativity and insensitivity, a role model is so important for one to stay focused on his task.

Be superstitious about goodness:
And there is always room for superstition. Superstition that anchors you to success, for that matter anything that anchors you to success is good. About a year ago Dhoni decided to change his hairstyle completely. Besides giving him a distinct personality, he feels the new hairstyle brought him luck as well! It’s ok to have superstitions that support one’s mind towards success. Goodness is any form can never do any harm.

-- By Priya Kumar - THE ONE MINUTE COACH

Join today Contact Center Architect Group

2008-09-10T11:59:00.001-07:00

http://contactcenterarchitects.com It is a Professional Group of Qualified Contact Center Architect who is having exposure & expertise of Contact Center Technologies across the platform.

Provide value-added services to members and the entire user community irrespective of any product. Create a forum where all members may share successes, issues and concerns related to Contact Center Technologies irrespective of any product.Provide an environment for accurate and timely spreading of information about products and services offering across the globe the contact center vender of service providers.

Provide a canal for members to receive important information regarding changes in the industry.- We hope you enjoy Contact Center Architects Portal!
Ranjit Patel

http://contactcenterarchitects.com/index.php?action=register

Join today IP Telephony Architect Group!

2008-09-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

http://iptelephonyarchitects.com It is a Professional Group of Qualified IP Telephony Architect who is having exposure & expertise of IP Telephony Technologies across the platform.

Provide value-added services to members and the entire user community irrespective of any product.Create a forum where all members may share successes, issues and concerns related to IP Telephony Technologies irrespective of any product.Provide an environment for accurate and timely spreading of information about products and services offering across the globe with the IP Telephony vender of service providers.Provide a canal for members to receive important information regarding changes in the industry.- We hope you enjoy IP Telephony Architects Portal!
Ranjit Patel

http://iptelephonyarchitects.com/index.php?action=register

Being a leader and being successful at the same time,

2008-08-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

Being a leader and being successful at the same time, at the workplace, requires some characteristics.

Excellent communicator: This helps in making points clearly and being comprehensible to all.

Motivated and innovative: Leaders have to be charged up always so that they can motivate others to do better. They must be innovative and be able to think out of the box. Also, they must have quick fix answers for small problems.

Confident: The confidence of the leader instils confidence in the people. But confidence should not be mixed with arrogance. Leaders are essentially humble and ready to help always, which makes them approachable.

Trust: Last but not the least, the leader has to have the repute of being trusted and on whom the people can keep their faith. Similarly, leaders should always trust and repose faith in the people.

Govt allocates $450 Mn for Bangalore's upgrade

2008-07-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

Bangalore's infrastructure development in this fiscal's state budget, tabled by chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa here Thursday.Yeddyurappa, who also holds the finance portfolio, said Bangalore would require a whopping Rs.360 billion to tackle its infrastructure problems over the next five years.

"Such a huge investment can be made possible through the state government, public-private partnership and support from the 6.5-million citizens of Bangalore," Yeddyrappa said.Of the Rs.18 billion, Rs.7 billion will be allotted to the Bangalore metro project, Rs.3 billion to the municipal corporation, Rs.2.4 billion for improvement of roads, Rs.1 billion for drinking water supply to the extended areas through bore wells, and Rs.250 million for improvement of traffic management."We will also develop a 65-kilometre outer ring road at a cost of Rs.30 billion under a build, own and transfer (BOT) basis. For smooth traffic flow in the gridlocked roads, 10 flyovers and under-passes will be built at Rs.3.5 billion," Yeddyurappa said. To ease the traffic congestion and provide adequate parking space, about 40 multi-storeyed parking facilities will be constructed on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will invest Rs.7 billion to provide roads, drainage and drinking water facilities in the extended civic areas, he said.

"BDA will also form three new layouts to allot housing sites for citizens on priority," the chief minister said.Of the three proposed layouts, the Nada Prabu Kemegowda layout will be formed to provide about 60,000 sites, with 20 percent of them reserved for low-income groups.As part of infrastructure development, the state government has appointed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as adviser to implement the 40-kilometre high-speed rail link project - connecting the city and the newly opened international airport at Devanahallion - on a PPP basis."Though 34 percent of the state's population lives in urban areas, accounting for about 80 percent of economic activities, the civic infrastructure has not kept pace with the phenomenal increase in the population and the level of economic growth," Yeddyurappa said.

To develop urban areas across the state, the plan outlay for the sector has been increased to Rs.50.41 billion this fiscal from Rs.29.23 billion last year.
This was the Bharatiya Janata Party government's maiden budget.

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/43988/1

ITIL Essentials Study Guide Introduction

2008-07-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

Service Support Functions:

• Service Desk

• Incident Management

• Problem Management

• Change Management

• Configuration Management

• Release Management

Service Delivery Functions:

• Availability Management

• IT Services Continuity Management

• Capacity Management

• Financial Management

• Service Level Management

Configuration Management

Objectives:

• Providing information on the IT infrastructure

o To all other processes

o IT Management

• Enabling control of the infrastructure by monitoring and maintaining information on:

o All the resources needed to deliver services

o Configuration Item (CI) status and history

o Configuration Item relationships

Tasks:

• Identification and naming

• Management information

• Verification

• Control

• Status Accounting

Asset: Component of a business process like people, accommodation, computer systems, paper records, fax machines, etc.

Configuration Management Database: A database, which contains all relevant details of each Configuration Item (CI) and details of the important relationships between CIs. A Configuration Item (CI):

• Is needed to deliver a service

• Is uniquely identifiable

• Is subject to change

• Can be managed

A Configuration Item (CI) has:

• a Category

• Relationships

• Attributes

• a Status

Variant: A Configuration Item (CI) that has the same basic functionality as another Configuration Item (CI) but is different in some small way (ex: has more memory) Baseline: A snapshot of the state of a Configuration Item and any component or related Configuration Items, frozen in time for a particular purpose (such as the ability to return a service to a trusted state if a change goes wrong)

Configuration Management supports all other processes!

Scope vs. Detail

Relationships – Common Types:

• Is a component of

• Is a copy of

• Relates to

• Relates with

• Is used by

Service Desk

Objectives:

• To be the primary point of call for all:

o Calls

o Questions

o Requests

o Complaints

o Remarks

• To restore the service as quickly as possible

• To manage the incident life-cycle (coordinating resolution)

• To support business activities

• To generate reports, to communicate and to promote

Different Desks

• Call Center: Handling large call volumes of telephone-based transactions.

• Help Desk: To manage, coordinate, and resolve Incidents as quickly as possible.

• Service Desk: Allowing business processes to be integrated into the Service Management infrastructure. It not only handles Incidents, Problems and questions, but also provides an interface for other activities.

Service Desk Essentials:

• Single point of contact / Restore service ASAP

• Tasks: Customer Interface, Business Support, Incident Control & Management Information

• Concentrates on incident lifecycle management

• Incident: Unexpected disruption to agreed service

• Priority determined by business impact and urgency

• Correct assessment of priorities enables the deployment of manpower and other resources to be in the best interests of the customer

• Escalation and referral

Incident Management

Objectives:

• To restore normal service as quickly as possible

• Minimize the adverse impact on business operations

• Ensuring that the best possible levels of service quality and availability are maintained according to SLAs.

Incident: Any event which is not part of the standard operation of a service and which causes or may cause an interruption to or a reduction in the quality of that service.

Work-Around: Method of avoiding an Incident or Problem.

Service Request: Every Incident not being a failure in the IT Infrastructure.

Problem: The unknown root cause of one or more incidents.

Known Error: A condition that exists after the successful diagnosis of the root cause of a problem when it is confirmed that a CI (Configuration Item) is at fault.

Impact on the business + Urgency / Effect upon business deadlines = Priority

Category: Classification of a group of Incidents (Application, Hardware, etc.)

Escalation (Vertical Escalation): escalates up the management chain.

Referral (Horizontal Escalation): escalates to a different knowledge group. Routing.

Incident Life-Cycle

• Accept Service Event, Register and Consult the CMDB

• Classification

• Solve

• Closure

Reporting is VERY important.

• Daily reviews of individual Incident and Problem status against service levels

• Weekly management reviews

• Monthly management reviews

• Proactive service reports

Problem Management

Objectives:

• Stabilizing IT services through:

o Minimizing the consequences of incidents

o Removal of the root causes of incidents

o Prevention of incidents and problems

o Prevent recurrence of Incidents related to errors

• Improving productive use of resources

Tasks:

• Problem Control

• Error Control (including raising RfCs – Request for Change)

• Proactive Prevention

• Identifying Trends

• Management Information

• Posit Implementation Review (PIR)

Goal is to get from reactive or proactive. Stop problems from occurring / recurring.

Inputs:

• Incident details

• Configuration details

• Defined work-arounds

Outputs:

• Known Errors

• Requests for Change

• Updated Problem Records including work-arounds and/or solutions

• Response to Incident Management from Matching Management Information

Problem Control

• Identification

• Classification

• Assign Resources

• Investigation and Diagnosis

• Establish Known Error

Error Control

• Error Identification and Recording

• Error Assessment

• Recording Error / Resolution (Send out RfC)

• Error Closure

Known Error: An Incident or Problem for which the root cause is known and for which a temporary Work-around or a permanent alternative has been identified.

Proactive Problem Management:

• Trend Analysis

• Targeting Support Action

• Providing Information to the Organization

Known Errors resulting from Development should be made known to the Helpdesk. Reporting is also key for Problem Management.

Change Management

Objective: To implement approved changes efficiently, cost-effectively and with minimal risk to the existing and to the new IT infrastructure. Only approved changes made, risk and cost minimized.

Change Management Tasks:

• Filtering Changes

• Managing Change Process

• Managing Changes

• Chairing CAB and CAB/EC

• Review and Closure

• Management Information

Inputs:

• Requests for Change (RfC)

• CMDB

• Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC)

Outputs:

• Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC)

• Requests for Change (RFC)

• CAB minutes and actions

• Change management reports

Impact of change:

• Category 1

o Little impact on current services. The Change Manager is entitled to authorize this RfC.

• Category 2

o Clear impact on services. The RfC must be discussed in the Change

Advisory Board. The Change Manager requests advice on authorization and planning.

• Category 3

o Significant impact on the services and the business. Considerable manpower and/or resources needed. The RfC will have to be submitted to the board level (CAB/EC – Change Advisory Board / Executive Committee)

Priority Setting:

• Urgent

o Change necessary now (otherwise severe business impact)

• High

o Change needed as soon as possible (potentially damaging)

• Medium

o Change will solve irritating errors or missing functionality (can be

scheduled)

• Low

o Change leads to minor improvements

A change backout plan must always be possible.Change management always ends with a review of the change.

Change: The addition, modification, or removal of approved, supported or baselined hardware, network, software, application, environment, system, desktop build or associated documentation.

Request for Change: Form or screen, used to record details of a request for a change to any CI within an infrastructure or to procedures and items associated with the infrastructure.

Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC): Schedule that contains details of all the Changes approved for implementation and their proposed implementation dates.

Change Management Process

1. Request for a Change

2. Registration and Classification

3. Monitoring and Planning

4. Approve

5. Build & Test

6. Authorize Implementation

7. Implementation

8. Evaluate

Release Management

Objectives:

• Safeguard all software and related items

• Ensure that only tested / correct version of authorized software are in use

• Ensure that only tested / correct version of authorized hardware are in use

• Right software, right time, right place

• Right hardware, right time, right place

Tasks:

• Define the release policies

• Control of the Definitive Software Library (DSL)

• Control of the Definitive Hardware Storage (DHS)

• Distribute Software and Associated CIs

• Carry out S/W audits (using CMDB)

• Manage the software releases

• Oversee build of the software releases

Releases are done under the control of Change Management.

DSL : Definitive Software Library. Reliable versions of software in a single logical location. However, software may be physically stored at different locations.

Release Policy:

• Release Unit

• Full / Package / Delta Releases

• Numbering

• Frequency

• Emergency Change

Version Control:

• Development

• Testing

• Live

• Archive

Process:

• Software Control and Distribution (operational)

• Change Management (control)

• Configuration Management (control and administration)

Only process which creates its own policy.

Availability Management

Objectives:

• To predict, plan for and manage the availability of services by ensuring that:

o All services are underpinned by sufficient, reliable and properly

maintained CIs

o Where CIs are not supported internally there are appropriate contractual agreements with third party suppliers

o Changes are proposed to prevent future loss of service availability

• Only then can IT organizations be certain of delivering the levels of availability agreed with customers in SLAs.

Aspects of Availability:

• Reliability

• Maintainability: Maintenance you do yourself, as a company

• Resilience: Redundancy

• Serviceability: Maintenance done by someone else

Availability Information is stored in an Availability Database (ADB). This information is used to create the Availability Plan. SLAs provide an input to this process.

Unavailability Lifecycle

MTTR: Mean Time to Repair (Downtime) – Time period that elapses between the detection of an Incident and it’s Restoration. Includes: Incident, Detection, Diagnosis, Repair, Recovery, Restoration.

MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures (Uptime) – Time period that elapses between Restoration and a new Incident.

MTBSI: Mean Time Between System Incidents – Time period that elapses between two incidents. MTTR + MTBF.

“An IT service is not available to a customer if the functions that customer requires atthat particular location cannot be used although the agreed conditions under which the IT service is supplied are being met”

Simplistic Availability Calculation:

Agreed Service Hours – Downtime 100

------------------------------------------ X ----

Agreed Service Hours 1

IT Service Continuity Management

Why plan?

• Increases Business dependency on IT

• Reduced cost and time of recovery

• Cost to customer relationship

• Survival

Many businesses fail within a year of suffering a major IT disaster.

Business Impact Analysis:

Risk Analysis:

• Value of Assets

• Threats

• Vulnerabilities

Risk Management:

• Countermeasures

• Planning for potential disasters

• Managing a disaster

Risk Analysis: Based on the CCTA Computer Risk Analysis and Management Methodology (CRAMM)

Options:

1. Do nothing

2. Manual workarounds

3. Reciprocal arrangements

4. Gradual Recovery (cold standby)

5. Intermediate Recovery (warm standby)

6. Immediate Recovery (hot standby)

Cold start = accommodation. Environmental controls; power and communications Hot start = cold start + computing equipment and software

7 Sections of the Plan:

1. Administration

2. The IT Infrastructure

3. IT Infrastructure management & Operating procedures

4. Personnel

5. Security

6. Contingency site

7. Return to normal

Test and Review:

• Initially then every 6 to 12 months and after each disaster

• Test it under realistic circumstances

• Move / protect any live services first

• Review and change the plan

• All changes made via the CAB – Change Advisory Board

Contingency Plan:

• Assists in fast, controlled recovery

• Must be given wide but controlled access

• Contents (incl. Admin, Infrastructure, People, Return to normal)

• Options (incl. Cold & Hot Start)

• Must be tested regularly – without impacting the live service

Capacity Management

Objective:

To determine the right, cost justifiable, capacity of IT resources such that the Service Levels agreed with the business are achieved at the right time.

Objectives:

• Demand Management

o Business Capacity Management

• Workload Management

o Service Capacity Management

• Resource Management

o Resource Capacity Management

While doing the above, also need to do:

• Performance Management

o Internal and External Financial Data

o Usage Data

o SLM Data / Response Times

CDB – Capacity Data Base – Contains all Metrics, etc. Used to create a Capacity Management Plan. Performance Management Data populates the CDB.

Essentials:

• From Customer Demands to Resources

• Demand Management

• Workload Management

• Performance Management

• Capacity Planning

• Defining Thresholds and Monitoring

Application Sizing: To estimate the resource requirements to support a proposed application change to ensure that it meets its required service levels.

Modeling:

• Trend Analysis

• Analytical Modeling

• Simulation Modeling

• Baseline Models

• Used to Answer the “What If… “ questions

• Data for Modeling comes from the CDB

Financial Management

Objectives:

To provide information about and control over the costs of delivering IT services that support customers business needs. Costing is a must!

Input cost units recommended by ITIL:

• Equipment Cost Units (ECU)

• Organization Cost Units (OCU)

• Transfer Cost Units (TCU)

• Accommodation Cost Units (ACU)

• Software Cost Units (SCU)

Equipment = hardware

Organization = staff

Transfer = costs which IT incurs acting as an agent for the customer, they do not appear as a cost against the IT department’s budget

Accommodation = buildings

Software = software

Different Cost Types:

• Fixed - unaffected by the level of usage

• Variable - varying according to the level of usage

• Direct - usage specific to one service

• Indirect or Overhead – usage not specific to one service

• Capital – not diminished by usage

• Revenue or running – diminish with usage

Charging Objectives:

• Recover from customers the full costs of the IT services provided

• Ensure that customers are aware of the costs they impose on IT

• Ensure that providers have an incentive to deliver and agreed quality and quantity of economic and effective services

Charging and Pricing Options:

Charging:

• No Charging – IT treated as support center

• Notional Charging – IT treated as cost center

• Actual Charging

Pricing:

• Recover of Costs – IT treated as a service center

• Cost Price Plus – IT treated as a profit center

• Market Prices – IT treated as a profit center

Support and Cost centers used “soft charging” in which no money changes hands;

service and profit centers use “hard costing” in which money is transferred between bank accounts Profit centers focus on the value of the IT service to the customer Good Financial Management minimizes the risks in decision making

Main Processes:

Budgeting: The process of predicting and controlling the spending of money within the enterprise and consists of periodic negotiation cycle to set budgets (usually annual) and the day-to-day monitoring of the current budgets. Key influence on strategic and tactical plans.

IT Accounting: The set of processes that enable the IT organization to fully account for the way its money is spent (particularly the ability to identify costs by customer, by service, by activity).

Charging: The set of processes required to bill a customer for the services applied to them. To achieve this requires sound IT Accounting, to a level of detail determined by the requirements of the analysis, billing, and reporting procedures.

Service Level Management

Balance between the Demand for IT services and the Supply of IT services by knowing the requirements of the business and knowing the capabilities of IT.

Objectives:

• Business-like relationship between customer and supplier

• Improved specification and understanding of service requirements

• Greater flexibility and responsiveness in service provision

• Balance customer demands and cost of services provision

• Measurable service levels

• Quality improvement (continuous review)

• Objective conflict resolution

Tasks:

• Service Catalog

• Service Level Requirements

• Service Level Agreement

• Operational Level Agreements (OLA) and Contracts

• Service Specsheet

• Service Quality Plan

• Monitor, Review and Report

• Service Improvement Programs

• Customer Relationship Management

Minimum Requirements for an Agreement:

• Period

• Service Description

• Throughput

• Availability

• Response Times

• Signature

Other Possible Clauses:

• Contingency arrangements

• Review procedures

• Change procedures

• Support services

• Customer responsibilities

• Housekeeping

• Inputs and Outputs

• Changes

Ideally contracts are based on targets in the SLA SLAs must be monitored regularly and reviewed regularly

• Monitor to see if service is being delivered to specification

• Review to see if service specification is still appropriate

Unified Communications Strategies

2008-07-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.ucstrategies.com/

UC Strategies is an industry resource for enterprises, vendors, system integrators, and anyone interested in the growing Unified Communications arena. A supplier of objective information on Unified Communications, UC Strategies is supported by an alliance of leading communication industry Advisors, Analysts, and Consultants, who have worked in the various segments of Unified Communications since its inception.

Communication Enabled Business Process

2008-07-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

The goal of Communication Enabled Business Process (CEBP) is to optimize business process by reducing the human latency that exists within a process flow. For example, a mortgage approval process may be experiencing human latency because the person assigned to providing an approval is on vacation or busy working on something else. To reduce this latency, CEBP leverages Unified communications capabilities (i.e. UC services) by embedding them into the business process flow. The result is a more efficient, more automated closed-loop process; translating into significant ROI.

If the person does not provide the necessary approval within a designated period of time then the business process would invoke a UC service such as “notify and respond” from an IP PBX, voice portal/IVR, conferencing application, etc. These embedded UC services would “notify” the person that they need to do something. If the person does not “respond” to the notification then it can be escalated to a manager in the same manner.

In fact, there are a number of UC services that could be embedded within a business process to reduce human latency. These could include: conference [on demand], alert, escalate, contact resident expert, etc.; all of which create measurable business value.

The great thing about CEBP is that it can be applied horizontally across different lines of business and different industries. Virtually every business process is hampered by human latency. Some other use cases that CEBP can be applied to include: roadside assistance, stock portfolio alerts, personal information loss, claims processing, inventory management, etc. Here is a more detailed example:

Alpine VIVA: Status Of Construction till 29th June 2008

2008-07-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

Alpine VIVA: Status Of Construction till 29th June 2008

This group is for ppl invested/interested in Alpine Viva project

2008-06-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

http://groups.google.co.in/group/alpineviva

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Alpine-viva/

Alpine VIVA - "WhiteField Bangalore"

2008-06-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.alpineviva.com/ "WhiteField Bangalore"

Alpine VIVA Owners don't know when to expect the flat delivery

2008-06-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Alpine VIVA Owners don't know when to expect the flat delivery, Extreme delays in the project completion. Mr. S A Kabeer, Chairman and Managing director of Alpine Housing don't want to talk to any individual buyer of Alpine VIVA.

The joy of living.

2008-06-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Close to the Sai Baba Ashram in Whitefield. At the heart of the IT Corridor of Bangalore, yet far away from the maddening crowd. Distinguished by India's largest residential fountain that gushes to a majestic 150-ft in the midst of a specially designed water body, attached to a modern Club House.

80% of space at Alpine Viva is reserved for nature - landscaped gardens, walkways, arbors and secluded seating invite you to step out of your home and experience the pleasure of owning a remarkable landmark in the Bangalore skyline.

Alpine VIVA - Location Map

2008-06-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

Official Website of Ranchi University

2008-06-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

http://ranchiuniversity.org.in/

Official Website of Ranchi University

Smart apps for email, documents, sites and more.

2008-06-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/user_features.html

Google Apps has what you need to power up your organization
Google Apps brings together essential services to help your business, school, group or family communicate and collaborate more effectively. These services are powerful, easy to set up, require no maintenance, and you can get them for free. Everything is unified by the Start Page, a central place for your users to preview their inboxes and calendars, access your essential content, and search the web. Administrators can choose to deploy a mix of the communication and collaboration products listed below.

Communicate and connect
Gmail -- Offer custom email addresses to your organization with up to 25 gigabytes of storage for each account, search tools to help people find information fast, plus instant messaging and calendar tools built right into the email interface. Learn more

Google Talk -- Your users can call or send instant messages to their contacts for free -- anytime, anywhere in the world. File sharing and voicemail is included, too. Learn more

Google Calendar -- Your users can organize their schedules and share events, meetings and entire calendars with others. Your organization can also publish calendars and events on the web. Learn more

Collaborate and publish
Google Docs -- Your users can create documents, spreadsheets and presentations and collaborate with each other in real-time right inside a web browser window. Learn more

The Start Page -- A central place for your users to preview their inboxes and calendars, access your essential content, and search the web. Learn more

Google Sites -- Work together to keep related documents, web content and other information in one place, on one site. Learn more

Don't see something you want?
Google App Engine -- Develop and test new apps for your users with a free preview of Google App Engine. Because it's a preview, Google App Engine is available on a limited-signup basis. As Google App Engine evolves you'll be able to build apps restricted to just your users, integrated with the admin console, served from custom URLs at your domain, and hosted on Google's infrastructure. Learn more

Getting help
24/7 support options -- Get answers to your questions from our comprehensive online knowledge base, or participate in our Google-moderated user-to-user support community. We also respond to support questions over email, and offer 24/7 assistance, including online and phone support, for administrators using Google Apps Premier and Education Editions. Learn more

The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

2008-06-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

2008-06-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.olympic.org/

OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

The International Olympic Committee (French: Comité International Olympique) is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on June 23, 1894. Its membership is 205 National Olympic Committees.

The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games held in Summer and Winter, every four years. The first Summer Olympics organized by the International Olympic Committee was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896; the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Through 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. Beginning that year, however, the IOC shifted the Winter Olympics to the even years between Summer Games, to help space the planning of the two events two years apart from one another.

On June 23, 1894 the Olympic games were re-created by Pierre de Coubertin after a hiatus of 1500 years. The baron hoped to foster international communication and peace through the Olympic Games. The IOC is a parent organization intended to localize administration and authority for the Games, as well as to provide a single legal entity which owns copyrights, trademarks, and other intangible properties associated with the Olympic games. For example, the Olympic logos, the design of the Olympic flag, the motto, creed, and anthem are all owned and administered by the IOC. There are other organisations which the IOC coordinates as well, which are collectively called the Olympic Movement. The IOC President is responsible for representing the IOC as a whole, and there are members of the IOC which represent the IOC in their respective countries.

The mission of the IOC is to promote Olympism throughout the world and to lead the Olympic Movement. The IOC’s role is:

to encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned;

to encourage and support the organisation, development and coordination of sport and sports competitions;

to ensure the regular celebration of the Olympic Games;

to cooperate with the competent public or private organizations and authorities in the endeavour to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace;

to take action in order to strengthen the unity and to protect the independence of the Olympic Movement;

to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement;

to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women;

to lead the fight against doping in sport;

to encourage and support measures protecting the health of athletes;

to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes;

to encourage and support the efforts of sports organisations and public authorities to provide for the social and professional future of athletes;

to encourage and support the development of sport for all;

to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require that the Olympic Games are held accordingly;

to promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host cities and host countries;

to encourage and support initiatives blending sport with culture and education;

to encourage and support the activities of the International Olympic Academy (IOA) and other institutions which dedicate themselves to Olympic education.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Committee

Google AdSense Help Center

2008-05-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

https://www.google.com/adsense/support/?hl=en

Interested in AdSense

What is Google AdSense?
What's the difference between AdWords and AdSense?
What is AdSense for content?
How does Google target ads to my website?
How quickly will Google ads start appearing on my site?
Can I filter the ads that are displayed on my site?
How do I generate earnings?
How much will I earn through this program?
What is the AdSense revenue share?
How much does AdSense cost?
What is AdSense for search?
How do I earn with AdSense for search?
What languages does AdSense support?
What makes Google AdSense different from other ad networks?
How does participation in this program affect my site's position in the Google search results?
How can I advertise on AdSense sites?

Contact NIM

2008-05-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

National Institute of Management

Kamdhenu Estate,

Next To Tangent Furniture Mall,

Mind Space,

Link Road,

Malad (West),

Mumbai - 400 064.

India

Tel.: +91 - 022 - 4050 1500

+91 - 022 - 4003 0333

Best Practices in Workforce Management

2008-05-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

By Allan Rosenberg
05/01/2005, 12:31 PM ET

Workforce management (WFM) sounds more inclusive than it actually is. In the call center environment, WFM encompasses four key processes: forecasting the volume of customer contacts, using the forecasts to create agent schedules that will meet your service level requirements, assigning those schedules to agents, and managing changes on an ongoing basis.
WFM is not an island onto itself, unconnected to your other operations. A term that you'll be hearing more in the future is workforce optimization (WFO), which takes a unified approach to customer relationship management, performing customer satisfaction surveys, call recording and quality monitoring, training and coaching agents, and providing performance incentives. The end goal is, as research firm Gartner's Jim Davies put it in a February 2005 report, to let customers "speak to a skilled agent when they want, on the channel they want and have a better experience as a result."

Davies suggests, for example, that supervisors could use a quality monitoring tool to identify the training requirements of each agent, prompting a WFM package to schedule training for the agent based on shift availability. The unified WFO system would then deploy the appropriate e-learning module to the agent's desktop on schedule.

Although we are limiting our discussion in this article to WFM, you should be aware that the practices, and the software that implements them, are growing more interrelated across all of these operational silos.

Get The Most From Your WFM Software

The most important thing that most call centers can do to improve their WFM processes is to invest in WFM software.

Gartner estimates that about half of all call center organizations worldwide have deployed dedicated WFM software, though there is a wide discrepancy among firms of different sizes. Its data shows that in North America more than 70% of organizations with more than 75 agents use WFM software, whereas only 30% of organizations with fewer than 75 seats do so. The administrative costs of scheduling, and the benefits from optimizing the process, grow exponentially with the size of your operations. Unless you have a very small call center operation (say, 20 agents or fewer), if you don't use WFM software, you need to start.
Although the sophistication, feature sets, and costs differ from vendor to vendor, almost all WFM packages do the following:

1. Collect data. This data comes from automatic call directors (ACDs), multimedia skills-based routing (SBR) packages, and other relevant systems.

2. Forecast contact demand. Most packages start with historical call volumes (usually several weeks of recent data, plus several years of data to project seasonal changes). They then let analysts project overall growth trends, incorporate assumptions that address the uncertainty in the number and length of calls a center will receive, and allow adjustments for special events such as holidays and upcoming sales promotions.

Forecasting algorithms vary in sophistication but in virtually all cases, a well-tuned WFM forecasting module will produce more accurate results than will the intuition of a call center manager or scheduler.

Although call volume simulation is not yet common in call center WFM, we'll probably see more of it in WFM packages as computing power increases.

An interesting entry that uses both formula-based and simulation-based forecasting is AgentTime Scheduler from Portage Communications (North Bend, WA). Portage Communications sells WFM software primarily to small and medium-size call centers.
According to Paul Leamon of WFM software developer IEX (Richardson, TX), one trend in WFM software is generally gaining "capabilities to handle the 'three multi's' — multisite, multiskill, and multimedia." You'll need a WFM package that addresses your company's needs in these three areas.

Note also that most call center WFM packages have limited capabilities for the scheduling of outbound contacts. Concerto Software (Westford, MA) is the market leader for outbound call center WFM.

3. Create work schedules that balance the forecasted workload against agent availability and shift flexibility, costs, and service level requirements. The schedules can include vacations and time for lunch and other breaks, meetings, and coaching or training sessions.

4. Assign agents optimally to schedules. We don't mean to suggest that assigning schedules should be a purely top-down process. Given the difficulty of retaining good agents, the process has to consider their needs and desires, too.

A recent trend is to give points to agents based on seniority, performance levels and skill sets, then have the WFM system assign agents by bid order preference to the available schedules, subject to constraints that the center's WFM analyst specifies.

5. Provide information that lets supervisors, managers, and analysts engage in intraday management.

6. Monitor each agent's adherence to schedules. This takes place in both real time and over relevant intervals, to help supervisors decide when to investigate or intervene.

Rajiv Venkat of Witness Systems (Atlanta, GA) suggests that software that lets supervisors see adherence patterns over time as well as in real time can help avoid "big brother" behavior by supervisors, who can see if the nonadherence is a one time event or a recurring problem. He says this "changes supervision from an authoritarian approach into coaching."

7. Facilitate communication about scheduling. Another recent trend in WFM software is providing individualized Web-based portals that present selected information to each agent, supervisor, manager, or analyst. If you're looking at new software, you should examine whether it lets you specify permissions for both groups and individuals (e.g., allowing each supervisor to approve schedule changes only for the agents that he or she supervises).

8. Estimate the financial or service level impact of potential operational changes using "what if" scenarios.

One trend which we're keeping an eye on is the growing integration of WFM software with other WFO products such as quality monitoring applications. Gartner's Davies predicts that we'll likely see a number of vendor consolidations this year and beyond. We've already seen the first fruits of this trend:

Witness, known as a quality monitoring powerhouse, purchased WFM software developer Blue Pumpkin;

Performance management software vendor CenterForce acquired WFM developer RightForce, and was, in turn, acquired by contact center suite developer Concerto Software;
Aspect Communications (San Jose, CA), another contact center suite developer, offers the eWorkforce Management WFM package;

Genesys (Daly City, CA) offers Genesys Workforce Management as part of its contact center management suite; and Other vendors are forming partnerships (such as the relationship between WFM vendor IEX and Merced Systems (Redwood City, CA), which develops quality monitoring software).

Smaller call centers will likely look to broad suites with pre-integrated modules. The largest organizations, however, will want to select "best of breed" components, and will expect those packages to share data effectively. We think that Leamon has it right when he says, "sharing an interface isn't critical. The more compelling thing is providing prepackaged integrations and working with companies that know how to work with each other." In addition to integration, we'll no doubt also see increasing feature sets in WFM software over time.

Getting The Most From Your WFM

Here are a few tips from the experts regarding how to get the most from your WFM software.
According to Todd Cotharin of The Workforce Management Group (WFMG; Lake Worth, FL ), a consultancy that specializes in call center WFM, "Many call centers have made large investments in WFM software, but wind up using it essentially as a big word processor. It makes administration easier, but it's completely missing the opportunity."

A good first step is to ensure that your WFM database contains the best information available. Cotharin says, "WFM is a mission critical application, but too many companies try to get the data in as quickly as possible, rather than getting in all of the information they need to make their WFM decisions."

Leamon suggests that the companies that get the highest return on WFM software investments "have a culture of continuous improvement — they want to know what new features are available and how they can use them, they're keen to measure and manage the benefits, and they don't go in with the attitude that they can't change things." He suggests that call centers budget funds for WFM process improvements and training, encourage that analysts and managers network with other WFM professionals (e.g., by attending vendor conferences), and hold an annual review with their vendor to discuss changing needs and get new ideas. Leamon adds that, if it's used properly, WFM software is more than an operational instrument, "it's also a career building tool."

If you're an especially lucrative client, you should definitely use your market clout when you evaluate vendors. For example, Bob Webb of WFM vendor Pipkins (St. Louis, MO) says that his firm will help you to modify your data to get it into the hosted version of their WFM package to take a test drive. ac2 Solutions (Hazlet, NJ) has similarly offered free tests to help call centers evaluate their software. Don't be shy about asking vendors to prove that their product suits your needs.

WFMG's Daryl Gonos adds, "Installing software is just the beginning of the cycle of WFM best practices. How you do forecasting and manage shrinkage, your philosophy of schedule optimization, the metrics you choose, the intraday tactics you employ, and the way you review the performance of your WFM analyst all provide tools to exploit WFM's potential."
Centralization Exploits Economies of Scale

There are real, and realizable, economies of scale in managing call center workforces. Maggie Klenke of The Call Center School (Lebanon, TN) says perhaps the biggest opportunity for cost savings call centers can achieve results from consolidating workloads. Think of it as the law of averages writ large — as the size of your agent pool increases, the occupancy rate (i.e., the percentage of each agent's time spent handling customer contacts) increases, too. Klenke advises that call center managers should look for ways to combine smaller groups of agents, including cross-training your agents and establishing skills-based routing queues that take advantage of agents' multi-modal abilities.

The same principle applies to distributed call center operations — if you operate as one virtual call center, you can schedule agents and route calls and other customer contacts more efficiently, reducing shrinkage. (Shrinkage is a rather mechanical term derived from inventory accounting that describes the time that agents spend on breaks, waiting for calls, in training, and in other activities other than handling customer contacts.)

There are limits to the efficiencies of centralization, however. Klenke advises that, at occupancy rates higher than 85% to 90%, the costs from agent burnout and from undesirable call handling procedures exceed the efficiency savings. If your agent pools are large enough, you may need to add some shrinkage to your schedule.

Centralization of scheduling usually requires cultural changes. Especially in larger organizations, supervisors need to understand that although they're ceding some control to a WFM analyst whom they may outrank, they will also gain the benefits from more efficient operations (e.g., additional agent training time, higher customer satisfaction scores, and reduced agent costs).

Gonos suggests that, "if you don't manage cultural change, you'll wind up with a schedule administration process rather than workforce optimization."

As software makes it easier to manage agent scheduling centrally, headquarters workforce managers and WFM agents need to remember that the agents in the operations they oversee are human beings, not mathematical abstractions. WFM specialists and people on the operations side need to communicate regularly, and they both need to have a voice in higher-level policy decisions that affect scheduling.

The Benefits of Schedule Flexibility

According to Klenke, "flexibility is the name of the game in WFM in terms of scheduling." Adding even a small number of part-time shifts (including 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-hour shifts) and switching some 40-hour 5x8 schedules to 4x10 and other patterns, can often shave 10% to 20% off your staffing costs without cutting service levels. Cotharin agrees, noting that "80% of call centers today have rigid, fixed-base shift schedules, and almost all of them could improve if they broadened the mix."

If your call center operates on fixed schedules, you may encounter some resistance from your employees, so you do need to manage the change. Klenke suggests that rather than imposing new shift patterns all at once, you might start gradually, e.g., by applying the new rules only to volunteers or to new hires.

Venkat shares this view: "We really need to break the mindset of 5x8, and call centers need to engage in professional change management to do that," he says. Venkat also recommends that "it's often best to approach employees on a one-to-one basis to discuss scheduling flexibility. Some agents may prefer different shift options, but you may need to allay the fear that if they make their desires for part-time work known, they'll be fired."

He adds that awarding extra points for future bidding rounds to agents who are assigned schedules that are low on their preference lists can help overcome resistance. Finally, Venkat suggests that you can use on-call "work at home" agents (who are usually paid a small on-call fee in addition to wages for hours actually worked).

Adding flexibility to agent schedules may be especially difficult if you run a unionized call center, but you should be sure that your labor negotiators consider this when your firm renews its collective bargaining agreements.

One radical notion that might help is to split the benefits by increasing the wages you pay for agents assigned to less desirable shifts.

Carpe Diem

Niels Bohr, a Nobel laureate in physics and one of the principal founders of quantum mechanics, once said that "forecasting is difficult, especially when it's about the future." Bohr didn't know the half of it. Of course, we all want to reduce our forecasting errors (though, surprisingly, we often don't measure and reward forecast accuracy), but forecasts, by their nature, are imperfect tools that change over time.

WFM is therefore a dynamic task. The more quickly you can respond to unanticipated events, the more value you'll be able to unlock from your scheduling practices.

Cotharin thinks that "one of the biggest opportunities for savings in WFM is in the intraday management of risks and opportunities." He notes that "the rallying cry of many supervisors is 'I don't have time to train my agents.'"

He suggests that on days with lower than expected call volumes or sick calls, analysts and supervisors could shift underutilized agents from the phones into training. "It's hard to see this from real-time agent data but a good WFM package makes it easy."

Other options that Cotharin mentions for periods with too many or too few agents to handle the contact volume with the desired service level include changing break schedules, releasing some agents early, bringing in additional agents, changing utilization of home agents or outsourcer backups, offering overtime, and shifting agents to or from less immediate tasks such as answering e-mails. Please note, however, that this is not a license to downgrade e-mail service levels. If you let your customer e-mails sit unanswered for several days while waiting for agent overages, consequences far too horrible to contemplate in a family magazine such as Call Center Magazine will ensue — those customers will almost certainly call you anyway, unless they decide to call your competitors instead.

One nifty recent development is Encompass, an optional module available for Aspect's eWorkforce Management, that lets call centers integrate the operation of their outsourcers more tightly into the WFM process. Aspect's Larry Skowronek says that the module lets a contact center "communicate staffing levels and needs on a near-real time basis...using either an XML-based Web services interface or Microsoft Word and Excel. You can get tallies of people in each skill by interval and actual call information (including call handling time); you can also send forecasted call numbers and/or staff requirements forecasts."

You Can Only Manage What You Measure

The smartest analyst in the world using the best optimization software available will still produce bad schedules if the goals you give him or her are not aligned with your business needs. In a world with scarce resources (and every call center manager's resources are scarce), the toughest decisions usually don't have "yes or no" answers. It's harder to answer "how much" or "how many" questions. Before you can address resource allocation questions adequately, you need to put a lot of thought into analyzing tradeoffs.

Consider these questions: How many customers will you lose if hold time increases by 10 seconds, or 30, or 60, or 180? How much does it cost your company to acquire a new customer (or a new customer of a certain class, if you segment them)? How much more likely is a customer who rates your service as "extraordinary" to purchase from you again than is a customer who's call center experience was merely "satisfactory"? If you don't have well-considered answers to these, and many similar questions, or if you do know the answers but your performance metrics don't reflect those answers adequately, then you're WMF process is optimizing the wrong thing.

Gonos says, "few companies manage the efficiency of a WFM analyst. They need to examine the quality of their forecasts, whether they created an effective plan, and whether they executed the plan well." It's a good idea to include feedback from call center agents and supervisors in performance evaluations of WFM professionals, too.

Cotharin has identified a more disturbing practice. He says that "inconsistency is a rampant issue in call centers. Managers who have underperformed against targets in the morning will often buy back service levels in the afternoon, leading to a culture of inefficiency. Consistency of achievement across intervals is a much better metric than a daily average." Some higher level managers may not appreciate the natural variation in calling patterns, so you may need to educate your superiors to implement the metrics and incentives that will yield the best business results.

Finally, as much as we love data analysis, we don't think you should make a complete fetish of numbers. Here's a concrete example that's fun to quote to tightfisted CFOs — there are call centers that upon imposing more stringent average handling times (AHTs) for calls, saw marked decreases in up-sell revenues. Statistics are useful, but you need to be careful that they measure contributions to your organization's goals.

According to Gonos, successful workforce management "is real basic blocking and tackling. The benefits are in the fundamentals, where many WFM analysts today are failing to do the job." Although we have no bias against more sophisticated analysis, all of our sources agree with Gonos' conclusion.

If you have picked the right WFM software package, consolidated the management of agent schedules across agent pools, achieved flexibility in scheduling, react quickly to unexpected changes, and aligned your WFM's incentives with those of your organization, pat yourself on the back; you're well ahead of the curve. Of course, you should still be on the prowl constantly for improvements; one good way to identify them is to use the scenario testing capabilities of your WFM software (Klenke says that "what if" capabilities can also help you prove your point in budget discussions.) On the other hand, if this list doesn't describe your operations, that's where we suggest you start when you're looking to improve your bottom line.

AC2 Solutions — The Techie's Alternative To WFM

Call Center Magazine and our related shows keep giving awards to ac2 Solution's (Hazlet, NJ) Optimal Scheduler because we love its rigorously quantitative approach to forecasting demand and optimizing schedules. Last year, we promised that we'd give you more details about it "in a future article." Well, the future has arrived.

ac2's founder, Turgut Aykin, has several degrees (including a Ph.D.) in management science and operations research, and his company's WFM product reflects that. ac2 software has, bar none, the most sophisticated set of forecasting algorithms of any WFM product on the market.
The software can automate the process of finding the forecasting techniques that best predict your call center's needs (you can also choose your forecasting methods manually). The company has also incorporated the latest research in optimization theory into its algorithms. If you had put Albert Einstein to work as a WFM software developer (giving him today's computing power), he'd probably have developed something similar to Optimal Scheduler.

If you are an inveterate quant (which the author of this piece is), you're going to like the way Optimal Scheduler works — it's neat stuff. This doesn't mean that everyone in your shop needs a Ph.D. in applied math or a membership in the Star Trek fan club to use their software, however.

Aykin says, "Workforce managers complain about the complexity of software — they're focused on generating results, and that's what we do."

Another feature that we like is a bias toward maintaining service levels. Aykin says "for us, agent requirements are hard constraints," though they do have methods to allocate unavoidable shortages. ac2 has built flexibility into the optimization engine, letting you choose between minimum cost and minimizing agent hours for any desired service level, and the company still has more options under development.

There are two qualifications you should consider if you're interested in ac2's Optimal Scheduler:

First, in our opinion, this software is overkill for small call centers. Among other considerations, to get the most out of it, you need at least one analyst who's got more than the usual mathematical background, so a smaller operation probably doesn't have the resources to take full advantage of the tools.

Second, Optimal Scheduler is missing some pieces that you'll find in other vendor's offerings. ac2's intraday management and schedule adherence options are limited. The product is also oriented primarily toward customer service by telephone, and therefore has limited multi-modal capabilities.

You may want to look at the software more as a modular offering that complements other WFM packages. The product is offered on a hosted basis, using a .NET Web-services architecture to ease integration. You'll need to consider whether any increase in performance that you might achieve in your call centers is worth the extra cost and complexity.

For larger call center operations that are interested in a more mathematical approach and that are willing to consider a multiple-vendor system for WFM, there is one additional compelling feature of ac2's philosophy — the company is willing to prove the value of its product by helping you to compare its scheduling results against those of the software that you currently use. Some of the pricing options are based on the savings that you generate by incorporating ac2's software into your WFM process.

Aykin explains, "No matter what I say, a smart manager will say 'show me what impact it will have on my operations.'" When you're looking at any major investment, we think that's sound advice.

Get Workforce Management To Work For You
Here's how to get in touch with the companies that can help get you started on optimal scheduling.
ac2 Solutions732-739-1695
Aspect Communications888-412-7728/408-325-2200
The Call Center School615-812-8400
Concerto Software800-480-2299
Expert Solutions International877-238-0312/202-772-1130
Envision206-621-9384
Genesys888-GENESYS
GMT770-416-6000
IEX800-433-7692/972-301-1300
InVision Software
ISC Consultants212-477-8800
Left Bank Solutions310-207-6800
OdySoft/Calabrio877-646-4774
Pipkins314-469-1124
Portage Communications888-844-5320/208-263-6776
Professional Resource Management847-359-3990
Q-Max Systems
Symon972-578-8484
Witness Systems888-3-WITNESS/770-754-1900
The Workforce Management Group877-575-WFMG

Common Interview Questions & Answers

2008-05-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

Review these typical interview questions and think about how many u use?

1. Tell me about yourself:
The most often asked question in interviews. You need to have a short statement prepared in your mind. Be careful that it does not sound rehearsed. Limit it to work-related items unless instructed otherwise. Talk about things you have done and jobs you have held that relate to the position you are interviewing for. Start with the item farthest back and work up to the present.

2. Why did you leave your last job?
Stay positive regardless of the circumstances. Never refer to a major problem with management and never speak ill of supervisors, co-workers or the organization. If you do, you will be the one looking bad. Keep smiling and talk about leaving for a positive reason such as an opportunity, a chance to do something special or other forward-looking reasons.

3. What experience do you have in this field?
Speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for. If you do not have specific experience, get as close as you can.

4. Do you consider yourself successful?
You should always answer yes and briefly explain why. A good explanation is that you have set goals, and you have met some and are on track to achieve the others.

5. What do co-workers say about you?
Be prepared with a quote or two from co-workers. Either a specific statement or a paraphrase will work. Jill Clark, a co-worker at Smith Company, always said I was the hardest workers she had ever known. It is as powerful as Jill having said it at the interview herself.

6. What do you know about this organization?
This question is one reason to do some research on the organization before the interview. Find out where they have been and where they are going. What are the current issues and who are the major players?

7. What have you done to improve your knowledge in the last year? Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job.

A wide variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement. Have some good ones handy to mention.

8. Are you applying for other jobs?
Be honest but do not spend a lot of time in this area. Keep the focus on this job and what you can do for this organization. Anything else is a distraction.

9. Why do you want to work for this organization?
This may take some thought and certainly, should be based on the research you have done on the organization. Sincerity is extremely important here and will easily be sensed. Relate it to your long-term career goals.

10. Do you know anyone who works for us?
Be aware of the policy on relatives working for the organization. This can affect your answer even though they asked about friends not relatives. Be careful to mention a friend only if they are well thought of.

11. What kind of salary do you need?
A loaded question. A nasty little game that you will probably lose if you answer first. So, do not answer it. Instead, say something like, That's a tough question. Can you tell me the range for this position? In most cases, the interviewer, taken off guard, will tell you. If not, say that it can depend on the details of the job. Then give a wide range.

12. Are you a team player?
You are, of course, a team player. Be sure to have examples ready. Specifics that show you often perform for the good of the team rather than for yourself are good evidence of your team attitude. Do not brag, just say it in a matter-of-fact tone. This is a key point.

13. How long would you expect to work for us if hired?

Specifics here are not good. Something like this should work: I'd like it to be a long time. Or As long as we both feel I'm doing a good job.

14. Have you ever had to fire anyone? How did you feel about that?

This is serious. Do not make light of it or in any way seem like you like to fire people. At the same time, you will do it when it is the right thing to do. When it comes to the organization versus the individual who has created a harmful situation, you will protect the organization. Remember firing is not the same as layoff or reduction in force.

15. What is your philosophy towards work?
The interviewer is not looking for a long or flowery dissertation here. Do you have strong feelings that the job gets done? Yes. That's the type of answer that works best here. Short and positive, showing a benefit to the organization.

16. If you had enough money to retire right now, would you?

Answer yes if you would. But since you need to work, this is the type of work you prefer. Do not say yes if you do not mean it.

17. Have you ever been asked to leave a position?
If you have not, say no. If you have, be honest, brief and avoid saying negative things about the people or organization involved.

18. Explain how you would be an asset to this organization?
You should be anxious for this question. It gives you a chance to highlight your best points as they relate to the position being discussed. Give a little advance thought to this relationship.

19. Why should we hire you?
Point out how your assets meet what the organization needs. Do not mention any other candidates to make a comparison.

20. Tell me about a suggestion you have made
Have a good one ready. Be sure and use a suggestion that was accepted and was then considered successful. One related to the type of work applied for is a real plus.

21. What irritates you about co-workers?
This is a trap question. Think real hard but fail to come up with anything that irritates you. A short statement that you seem to get along with folks is great.

22. What is your greatest strength?
Numerous answers are good, just stay positive. A few good examples: Your ability to prioritize, Your problem-solving skills, Your ability to work under pressure, Your ability to focus on projects, Your professional expertise, Your leadership skills, Your positive attitude

23. Tell me about your dream job.
Stay away from a specific job. You cannot win. If you say the job you are contending for is it, you strain credibility. If you say another job is it, you plant the suspicion that you will be dissatisfied with this position if hired. The best is to stay genetic and say something
like: A job where I love the work, like the people, can contribute and can't wait to get to work.

24. Why do you think you would do well at this job?
Give several reasons and include skills, experience and interest.

25. What are you looking for in a job?
See answer # 23

26. What kind of person would you refuse to work with?
Do not be trivial. It would take disloyalty to the organization, violence or lawbreaking to get you to object. Minor objections will label you as a whiner.

27. What is more important to you: the money or the work?

Money is always important, but the work is the most important. There is no better answer.

28. What would your previous supervisor say your strongest point is?

There are numerous good possibilities: Loyalty, Energy, Positive attitude, Leadership, Team player, Expertise, Initiative, Patience, Hard work, Creativity, Problem solver

29. Tell me about a problem you had with a supervisor
Biggest trap of all. This is a test to see if you will speak ill of your boss. If you fall for it and tell about a problem with a former boss, you may well below the interview right there. Stay positive and develop a poor memory about any trouble with a supervisor.

30. What has disappointed you about a job?
Don't get trivial or negative. Safe areas are few but can include: Not enough of a challenge. You were laid off in a reduction Company did not win a contract, which would have given you more responsibility.

31. Tell me about your ability to work under pressure.
You may say that you thrive under certain types of pressure. Give an example that relates to the type of position applied for.

32. Do your skills match this job or another job more closely?

Probably this one. Do not give fuel to the suspicion that you may want another job more than this one.

33. What motivates you to do your best on the job?
This is a personal trait that only you can say, but good examples are: Challenge, Achievement, Recognition

34. Are you willing to work overtime? Nights? Weekends?
This is up to you. Be totally honest.

35. How would you know you were successful on this job?

Several ways are good measures: You set high standards for yourself and meet them. Your outcomes are a success.Your boss tell you that you are successful

36. Would you be willing to relocate if required?
You should be clear on this with your family prior to the interview if you think there is a chance it may come up. Do not say yes just to get the job if the real answer is no. This can create a lot of problems later on in your career. Be honest at this point and save yourself future grief.

37. Are you willing to put the interests of the organization ahead of your own?

This is a straight loyalty and dedication question. Do not worry about the deep ethical and philosophical implications. Just say yes.

38. Describe your management style.
Try to avoid labels. Some of the more common labels, like progressive, salesman or consensus, can have several meanings or descriptions depending on which management expert you listen to. The situational style is safe, because it says you will manage according to the situation, instead of one size fits all.

39. What have you learned from mistakes on the job?
Here you have to come up with something or you strain credibility. Make it small, well intentioned mistake with a positive lesson learned. An example would be working too far ahead of colleagues on a project and thus throwing coordination off.

40. Do you have any blind spots?
Trick question. If you know about blind spots, they are no longer blind spots. Do not reveal any personal areas of concern here. Let them do their own discovery on your bad points. Do not hand it to them.

41. If you were hiring a person for this job, what would you look for?

Be careful to mention traits that are needed and that you have.

42. Do you think you are overqualified for this position?

Regardless of your qualifications, state that you are very well qualified for the position.

43. How do you propose to compensate for your lack of experience?

First, if you have experience that the interviewer does not know about, bring that up: Then, point out (if true) that you are a hard working quick learner.

44. What qualities do you look for in a boss?
Be generic and positive. Safe qualities are knowledgeable, a sense of humor, fair, loyal to subordinates and holder of high standards. All bosses think they have these traits.

45. Tell me about a time when you helped resolve a dispute between others.

Pick a specific incident. Concentrate on your problem solving technique and not the dispute you settled.

46. What position do you prefer on a team working on a project?

Be honest. If you are comfortable in different roles, point that out.

47. Describe your work ethic.
Emphasize benefits to the organization. Things like, determination to get the job done and work hard but enjoy your work are good.

48. What has been your biggest professional disappointment?
Be sure that you refer to something that was beyond your control. Show acceptance and no negative feelings.

49. Tell me about the most fun you have had on the job.
Talk about having fun by accomplishing something for the organization.

50. Do you have any questions for me?
Always have some questions prepared. Questions prepared where you will be an asset to the organization are good. How soon will I be able to be productive? and What type of projects will I be able to assist on? are examples.

Bengaluru International Airport,

2008-05-24T13:44:00.001-07:00

http://www.bengaluruairport.com/ Bengaluru International Airport, the gateway to South India,is situated to the north of Bengaluru on the National Highway 7 and is40kms from the city’s central business district.The Bengaluru International Airport will commence operationsfrom 00:01 am on 23rd May, 2008.

http://www.flykingfisher.com/Easy_Guide.pdf This Easy Guide will give you a snapshot of the airport and how to get there.

AVAYA Voice Portal

2007-12-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

AVAYA Voice Portal network consists of the Voice Portal system and other external systems.

The Voice Portal system consists of two major subsystems:
• The Voice Portal Management System (VPMS), which controls the Voice Portal system.
• One or more Media Processing Platform (MPP) servers, which process all incoming and outgoing calls.

In the Voice Portal network, external systems include the following:
• Private Branch Exchange (PBX) servers.
• Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and TexttoSpeech (TTS) speech servers.
• Application servers.

Voice Portal Management System components
Installed on the Linux operating system, the VPMS software consists of the following components:
• Voice Portal Management System web application
• Application log manager
• Alarm manager
• Network log manager
• Avaya License Manager
• Voice Portal database

Additionally, the VPMS relies on several third party components, which get installed automatically as part of the VPMS installation, including:
• Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition Software Development Kit: Java runtime
environment
• Apache Tomcat: web servlet container
• Apache Axis: web services container
• PostgreSQL: SQL database server

MPP server components
The MPP server consists of the following components:
• System Manager
• Web services
• Session Manager
• Avaya Voice Browser
• CCXML Browser
• Speech proxies
• Telephony
• Event Manager

Jawahar Lal Nehru College - Chakardharpur

2007-11-17T11:36:00.001-08:00

For Graduation and Master Degree courses, students prefer to get admission in Jawahar Lal Nehru College which is one of the reputed college within the University.

This college is operated by Ranchi University and offers a variety of courses including Voccational Courses.This college was established in 1969 within the Raaj Bari (King's Castle) and since then offers Graduation in the three main streams - Arts, Commerce and Science.In the mid 90's the college administration was able to get affiliation courses from United Grant Commission of India which was agreed to be certified by Ranchi University; for its Vocational Studies. This include - Computer Application, Computer Maintenance and Office Management & Secretarial Practice (OMSP). Further in the early decade of 2000 the college got few more respected courses affiliated from the University for their Computer Science courses.

Outstaning Contribution to IT Domain

2007-11-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

Jawaharlal Nehru College has outstaning contribution in order to hone student's capabilities and making students more compatible to face global challenges and creating nexus in IT domain.

This colleges has produced the Tons of IT professional, working in various MNCs.

About Chakradharpur

2007-11-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakradharpur

Chakradharpur is a city and a municipality in Pashchimi Singhbhum district in the state of Jharkhand, India. It is located on the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

WHY NIM

2007-10-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

http://site.nimonweb.com/why_nim.html

NIM is first ISO 9001-2000 certified International B-school in distance management education offering short duration programs which shall enable the students to acquire world class management qualification that would enhance careers of students in the management sector, the unique education methodology and the compact, integrated short term correspondence courses shall be of great advantage to all those who look forward to achieve early success in their life. Our courses are of great benefit to our students.

In today's rapidly changing scenario why waste your precious time in doing 2/3 years management Courses when the same course can be pursued in few months through our SPECIALLY DESIGNED FAST TRACK PROGRAMMS.

The NIM management programs are more flexible, more innovative and much less expensive than the traditional, old pattern and long termn programs of other Institutions. Through our short term integrated compact courses you save;
TIME MONEY EFFORT
Remember that 3 years computer courses have become obsolete and instead 6 month Fast Track courses have taken over. Similarly the Fast Track route is being preferred and adopted in various other faculties and subjects including MANAGEMENT. The traditional system of imparting Management Education is good excuse of making money from the Students by holding the Students unnecessarily in the faculty for 2/3 long years.These old pattern institutes would not change to keep pace with the new millennium and would keep their students hanging around for year in order to earn huge amount of money. The Student must realized that in this age of internet, following an old pattern of management Education is not going to yield more than what could be had through Fast Track Distance Learning Management Programs than only and traditional institutional will also be forced to adopt FAST TRACK Management courses such as what we offer right now.

Still, in this 21st century if you think wasting 2/3 years in traditional college is your fate than we can't help you. But if you belong to the group of trendsetter, path breakers, have high flying ambitions and for you sky is not the limit than these courses are just for you.

Our student have been recruited by top multinational companies - a record which not many management college can boast of. they have risen to the senior managerial position at very young age . We welcome all students who possess positive thinking about their own careers to earn our prestigious qualification and happy and prosperous life.

www.nimonweb.com

2007-10-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.nimonweb.com/

NIM believe in building foundation on a wide base of knowledge, which includes the elements of professional, subjective, practical and spiritual base. We believe that in today's competitive and fast changing environment, it is time of complete knowledge. Our program is structured keeping in mind global business environment and international standards. In our academic program we are sworn to excellence. It is a passion shared equally by the institute's faculty, students, corporate sponsors and alumni. At this academic program we nurture leaders who shall be capable to shape the destiny of business organizations. This program shall train the students into becoming decision makers with social sensitivity and a broad strategic vision

My Interest Area

2007-10-14T10:06:00.001-07:00

* Telecommunications
* VoIP
* Hosted IP Contact Center
* Internet
* Multimedia
* CRM
* Contact Center Technologies
* SIP/H.323
* ICT
* IMS - IP Multimedia Subsystem
* Voice Systems and network integration
* Web Traffic Analysis & Search Engine Optimizations
* Web Application Deployment and Maintenance