A few days ago, I had blogged about the impending launch of Kindle 2.0. Well it is out. But not yet here. In fact it is still not available outside of America. What a pity!
Click here to catch one of the first reviews.
As I said in my previous blog - Laptop, iPod and Kindle: a complete entertainment package.
I have given my car for servicing. The mechanic said he cannot give the car until Monday evening. How do I go to office? I would love to use this opportunity to cycle to office, there is a customer visit. Bad thing.
Fortunately, we have another car at home. Good thing.
The other car breaks down. Kids are with me. They need to reach the school on time. Bad thing.
Fortunately, the car breaks down in front of the school. Good thing.
I search for the road emergency service offered by my friendly neighbourhood service station. Can't find it. My wife must have misplaced it. I have the number at home. How do I reach it? Bad thing.
Fortunately, my wife is at home today. She teaches and her school is closed today. I ask her to hunt for the number and ask the service station to help me out. Good thing.
She calls me back saying that it will take them at least half an hour to reach me. What a waste of time. Bad thing.
Fortunately I always carry a book in the car. Perfect time to gobble away those chapters. Good thing.
I suddenly realize - customer at office. Panic! I should have been there. What a mess! Bad thing.
The customer calls me on my mobile. He will be a couple of hours late. I tell him to take his own time and not to hurry. Good thing.
The service vehicle finally reaches me. The wires are disconnected. Rubbed against the belt. Bad thing.
He fixes the problem in a jiffy. Good thing.
He wants to be paid in cash. And I am credit card person. I rarely carry cash in my wallet. Bad thing.
I had popped some cash in my wallet last evening but did not get to spend it. I pay him thanking him profusely. Good thing.
I think I know exactly how life tastes ... sweet and sour.
Picture courtesy: Kriss Szkurlatowski
The three wise men AKA Government-appointed Board of Directors for Satyam, have painstakingly interviewed around 50 candidates and after much delay finally landed up with a new CEO of Satyam Computers, Mr. A. S. Murthy (ASM). I do not wish to go into ASM's capability or discuss at length the implication of having a CEO who dumped his shares just before the Maytas episode.
No.
Instead let us investigate something more terrible.
What is greatest threat that Satyam faces today? It is not paucity of funds; they are not exactly bankrupt, are they? The employees are more or less still with Satyam - by choice or otherwise. The threat is from the customers. Some of them have cut off relationship with Satyam; while others are on a watch mode. So the prudent decision would have been to take on board someone who could instill confidence in the customer. Someone who could signal a fresh start - a clean break from the past.
ASM is not a clean break from the past. He is a Raju man. He may have worked with Satyam for the last 15 years and he may know all the customers; but that does not qualify him to become a CEO.
Satyam may survive. It may prosper once again. But only if the customers do not desert Satyam. A dynamic, known outsider would have been a much better choice. ASM may be capable, but he is not the man of the hour. If Satyam regains its lost glory, it would be in spite of and not because of ASM.
A thought pops up: Is this a political appointment designed to control damage?
I hope it is.
The alternative is even more distressing. If this is not a political appointment, then it shows a deeper problem that perhaps pervades the whole of corporate India.
Companies exist only for customer (Yeah! Yeah! I am aware of a certain CEO who thinks employees come before customer. He is wrong - I will explain this some other day, why he is wrong. The same CEO also goes around using "Blue Ocean" for every strategic(??) move. The only Blue Ocean created by an Indian, that I know of, is by Sabir Bhatia, creator of Hotmail.) Each and every action taken by the company should be focused only at the customer. This is something that no one needs to learn from a humble blogger. By not thinking about the customer while choosing the new Satyam CEO, the three wise-men have clearly signaled that corporate India thinks otherwise.
It is impossible to judge now the impact of this appointment. The implications lie in the future and is not visible to us. The best I can hope that it turns out inconsequential. At stake is the future of 40,000+ Satyam employees.
Picture courtesy: enimal
This is a remarkable fable. I heard this when I was very small (... and that means a very long ago) from my uncle. I am not sure of the source of the story. Could be the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic.
Once upon a time ... I love this beginning. "Once upon a time" takes me straight to my childhood days. Ok I am digressing.
Once upon a time, there was a sage who lived next to a river. He was known for his kindness to one and all. Every morning before he started his day he would go for a dip in the river. On one such morning as he emerged from his dip he say a scorpion floating by, struggling for life. The sage scooped the scorpion up with the intention to take it ashore and save its life. The scorpion stung the sage on his palm and the sage dropped the scorpion in the river. But quickly scooped it up again and put it ashore.
His disciple was watching all this. He felt the sage was being stupid. Why help someone who kicks you?
The sage's reply was classic, "If the scorpion cannot forget its nature, how can I?"
Hmmm.... good fable.
Fables are meant to pass on a moral.
What moral do you get from this fable?
I take a lesson from the scorpion. Not the sage. Surprised?
The scorpion obviously was reacting instinctively. The sage was not.
In modern times, when couldn't-care-less attitude dominates, it is good to have people who have good intentions. And there are people who go out of their way to help others. And at times this could lead to irritation, depending upon the context ("Mind your own business, man!" is a normal reaction). It could also lead to snafu. But what I need to do is suppress instinctive reactions.
The stupid scorpion could have lost its life.
Picture courtesy: Andrea Simonato
I promised in one of my earlier posts, So You Think Einstein Was A Genius, that I will be discussing the best "How To" book I have read so far, How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.
I found that Squidoo is a better platform for a book review. So, please visit my lens on this book, here.
I hope you enjoy reading the book review as much as I enjoyed developing it.
I am context man! I find solace in setting up events in their context. And though The Black Swan has done its best to destroy my confidence in context ("narrative fallacies"), I still find taking decisions easier when context is clearer.
Let me try to explain what I mean by context. This is my favourite.
Suppose you have just arrived at a village and you hear that a boy has been killed by a wild animal. The most horrific thing is that none of the villagers rushed to rescue of the boy. What would be your reaction? Outrage? Small boy done to death because of apathy on part of the villagers. But then you rationalize. Perhaps the animal was big, leopard or tiger. It wouldn't have helped even if the villagers had tried. But then you hear it was just a wolf. Now you are angry. This is not on. You curse the villagers silently.
But being a "contextual person" you dig deeper. You find that the boy was naughty and like to play pranks. Just to entertain himself, he used to cry out wolf. The villagers would rush to his rescue every time just to see him laughing his head off and their consternation when they would find there was no wolf. He had done so twice before and this time the villagers thought he was pulling a fast one once again.
Yes, dear readers, this is the old "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" story. Twisted around. You begin to understand more when the context is clear.
The problem with our education is that we are presented with narration that flow naturally - from the beginning to the end. As a result we are not trained to see beyond. What is presented is fact. And that's that. It is a helpful device to teach morals to a child, but awful device to teach us to think.
Unfortunately life is much more complicated and in many cases the reverse trace leads to a beginning that suits the narrator the most. In fact, you could end up with more than one narration depending on who is telling you the story.
Decisions based on context could be wrong or right. But decisions based on snapshots can never be right (Now don't quote me Blink!)
Picture courtesy: Patrice Dufour
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