Rules of Business and Work

 Work as we know it, consists of a 9 to 5 job in a company or organisation. Unless you are an entrepreneur who works for herself/himself. Then the work hours are undefined. But this is not about work-life balance. It's about the risks involved.

As with everything, there is an upside and a downside to work and to a business. The upside of working is that you have a workplace, and a salary at the end of the month. The downside of course, is that no job is permanent, except a minuscule number of government jobs. So there are chances of getting the sack, for reasons of macroeconomic factors, or mismanagement, or incompetence -yours or somebody else's higher up.

Same goes for businesses. The upside is profits and growth, and so on. The downside risk is that of losses of market share, brand value or just financial losses. No company is permanent. It can transform, get taken over, and so on. 

An intelligent person knows this and moves on to another job, to try his luck. Business owners who are not clingy can also recognise this and sell off (there are many serial entrepreneurs) before the risk gets higher than the potential payoff. Browbeating and blaming does not help (the context is current layoffs in tech including edutech.. no one complained when they were hiring in hordes).

Human Resource management During Pandemic

 Some good and some bad, for the H.R. folks, I think. Recruitment had to go online, joining in many cases too, for new recruits. I interviewed online, but joined physically for my new job, for instance. For the MBA students, some job offers were delayed (or joining was), and internships had to be carried out online, with lockdowns persisting in most places around India.

Some events that student clubs regularly conduct moved online. In some cases, this led to a greater reach, because travel time and cost for speakers was cut, but it also meant a loss of 'the experience". The education/training itself underwent a huge change, and started to resemble distance learning in some ways. Of course, the tech-savvy B schools/colleges adapted quite well, but the experience was still a notch lower because of the lack of the social aspects, and peer learning opportunities.

H.R. lays a great amount of stress on people-to-people contact, and that took a hit. But they adapted to the inevitable, and will probably use the learnings well, if and when we get back to normalcy.

Good Governance- Lessons From Monarchy

There were good monarchs too. We sometimes forget that. What did they do?

Ideas that work.

Jobs/work.

Peace.

Justice.

They had respect for wise people, many of whom were advisors in their court.

They had a witty humorist too, to break the monotony. Tenali Raman and Birbal come to mind readily.

Did they build walls with the neighbouring countries? Probably not.

They were well-informed, and used multiple channels to get information, including personal visits to corners of their kingdom.

They assigned the right people to the jobs they had in mind.

My Vital Stats

No, it's not what you think.. just a few stats that I remember or have cooked up. Half-truths?

Born 1960, citizen of undivided A.P. , India. Single and ready to mingle till 1988. No more.

Speaks (some) Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, Hyderabadi, English.

Paid Jobs- New Horizons (Ad agency), MBA (Marketing Research), Clemson Univ., Lander, XIMB, Vignana Jyoti, Kirloskar (Harihar, a beautiful place), IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode (learnt how to pronounce it!), PESIT, IFIM (both at Bangalore), IMT Nagpur, IMT Ghaziabad, IIM Indore. Unpaid-Husband, father, son, etc.

Countries Visited- Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, USA, Canada, The Bahamas, Holland, Dubai. Appreciated the need for Swachchata Abhiyaan after these. Learning-East or West, India is the best. All major colonial powers thought so too.

Skills- reading, writing, joking, cooking.

Hole-in-one: Twice, at the Kodaikanal and Wellington Golf Clubs. In 2014 and 2016.

Past students- a million. Those in touch- Half a million.

Member- Google mail, Yahoo mail, egroups, Facebook, Blogspot, A music group (Hindi), ELMAR

Interests- Anything interesting-meeting new people or old friends, drinking good whisky, micro-brewed beer, good wine, playing/teaching Golf, talking about it, shooting the breeze, staring into space, developing new courses, writing blogs, G.K., puns, films, film songs, travel, food-especially biryani and Irani chai.

Hate: You guessed it- shopping. Mosquitoes, except talking ones.

Jobs and Tourism

Pic from Jaipur

Tourism is a job creator many times over. Every tourist needs a place to stay in, food to eat, and transport to move around. Some of these (the first two) may require some capital investment, but the transport could come in various forms, including private taxis or aggregators, or other local options (two-wheelers, cycle rickshaws, etc.).

Guides speaking multiple languages are an asset, and so are other information creators and providers. Local travel agents can also play a big role. Entertainment providers can also think creatively and develop options for travellers on a tight schedule, or those with more time.

I have recently started looking into tourism for research, and I find it's an area rich in potential for research too. If the right policies are followed, India can probably outdo itself with its rich variety of travel motivators, from history and architecture, to spiritual or medical reasons.

Good marketing of course, can lead to a big impact on tourism, both international and domestic. 

Mukkabaaz- Film Review

Given that the film runs its length on two completely new actors in the lead, it's a very good attempt. It's the charming heroine and raw, gritty hero who actually make the difference in a tale that's in danger of becoming a new stereotype. The North Indian small-town ambience leading to turmoil in the lives of some of the protagonists, I mean. A complete anti-thesis of the Karan Johar urban stereotype, this is nevertheless another one. If what is depicted in it is true, it is sad indeed that small town autocrats still function in this way. If it's not, cinema needs to write and tell stories which are more varied.

The good things are Vineet Singh and Zoya Hussain- the lead pair, and the known faces of Ravi Kishen and Jimmy Shergill (who's also getting typecast). The length of the film is a tad too long, and shaving 15-20 minutes off would have made it a lot crisper and more effective in its impact. It drags at times, because you know what's going to unfold.  The subtext of forward versus backward castes is handled well, without intruding too much on the storytelling. Also, the joblessness in small town India comes through, in attempts to get one through sports quotas. The end is a big surprise. Overall, not bad. Worth a look for a film buff, especially if you are not into mindless extravaganzas. The music could have been better.

Joblessness and Other Indexes

Ok, Indices, maybe..I don't know. But the point is, I am coming up with some new ones, like the soap companies do, on a regular basis. Unlike them, I really had to think these through. Why should Sensex have all the fun?

Joblessness Index- Hours spent doing useful things, divided by hours spent on Social Media+Hours spent on Cell talking+Hours spent on Netflixing (this is not a word yet, I invented it..if Googling is an accepted word, this will be too)..for better results, interchange the numerator and denominator, so the number appears large, and you can then make speeches worrying about it.

Economy's Health Index. Doctors' earnings for all doctors divided by Patients' Bank Balance (Amount reduced by paying medical bills) indicates the economy's health- can you argue with this?

Pseudo-intellectuals Index. This is the total number of posts forwarded in a day about anything that sounds intellectual but is not, multiplied by 1000.

Real Intellectuals Index. The number of people who did their homework (or any work) without Copy/Pasting anything.

Smart Bloggers Index. This species does not exist, and therefore this index is not needed.

Creative Answers to Common Interview Questions

These may not get you a job, but you will enjoy the interview process- it's the journey and not the destination that's important, right?

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Vacationing in Goa every month under the guise of a sales meeting. I shall hold all meetings there.

Q: In 10 years?

Flying to my beach villa in the Bahamas in my private jet, all charged to the compay account (I'd have hired a creative accountant to do the needful).

Q: In 15 years?

In a log cabin writing books like all the MBAs these days seem to write- there are many Indian scriptures to choose from and turn into modern fables, a la Vayuputra.

Q: In 20 years?

I will run an organic farm where I will grow grapes and tomatoes. The grapes will be turned into wine and the tomatoes will be thrown at unwanted visitors.

My Failures

Inspired by something I saw on Facebook recently, I will try and recount some of my failures.

I failed to nurture some talents that I had, except maybe writing. I may have been good at cricket if I tried, or Badminton, or singing. But I feel happy that I did not subject anyone to my cricket commentating skills. Or TV-serial acting skills. The last one doesn't exist.

I failed to be firm (an infirmity?) when I could have, a few times. Particularly with my bosses. Though I did get into fights with some, and even quit jobs over those fights.

I usually am a failure at judging people-or being judgemental, to be precise. I feel everyone has lots of talent, and it is usually someone's failure to spot it that puts them in a spot. Maybe I am guilty here.

I am a complete failure at taking life seriously for too long. Sooner or later (usually sooner), I start to see the funny side of it. A congenital problem, I would say.

Being an eternal (non-serious) optimist, I fail to see any reason for the negativity that one sees on TIMES NOW or on Social Media. That, you might say, is a BIG one.

Fallacies

One of the major fallacies that is going around is that education is going to solve all problems. That needs a lot of qualifying, for it to be true.

Education cannot be just a degree, or a string of degrees.

Good human values like concern for people, environment come before education of the degree-adding variety. Or, should be a part of it. Common sense is as valuable as education.

Education of the wrong kind can actually breed a lot of problematic kids/adults.

Good governance has a lot to do with happiness. A reasonable job opportunity according to skills acquired solves most discontent. The lack thereof 's the reason for most migrations, including the current ones. Education should not end up producing an army of overqualified (mostly on paper) people who have aspirations not matched by skills.

Superman is not going to save the earth.

What Got You Here...

I think there is a book titled 'What Got You Here Won't Get You There.' I thought that would be obvious. An Apple phone with GPS is now needed to go anywhere. But that makes me think- this is dangerous territory, as you know. I am now imagining all kinds of spoofy titles for books that could be written; if push comes to shove, I may write some of them myself, while the grey cells are still functioning. Be prepared for the following titles then.

Why Men Clean Their Cars and Women Their Homes, by Dr. Jobless Jones, Ph.D.

How to Unfriend People who Send you Candy Crush Requests, by Hail Carnegie

How Jobs Cleaned up Windows, by his ex-Cleanup Consultant

How Pepsi Uncovered Coke's Secret Formula, by a former chief of the KGB

Enemies, by the scriptwriter of Friends

The Cosby No-show, by the Five Find-outers

How to Kidnap Schoolchildren, by The Organization

The Highs and Lows of Oil Prices by OPEC

That Sinking Feeling, co-authored by CEOs of Spicejet and Malaysian airlines

Unusual Business Ideas

In India, we are different. We walk different, we talk different, we spit (yuck) different.

Thus, there is a case for different business ideas.

1. Acid factory for acid-throwers. This is not a game. Serious maiming of face happens in cases of spurned love, or just for settling old enmity. Brisk sales guaranteed.

2. Betting syndicates for any event. Not restricted to games, or racing. What time the boss will come to office, could be bet on. Bosses that defy Murphy's laws (If you are late, he will be early, and vice versa) . Or, there could be bets on who will have a wardrobe malfunction in the next celebrity gathering/award function, etc.

3. Mall development. We believe malls are necessary for improving the GDP, which is not really improving, by the way. But we must keep trying. Never give up. Even if nobody shops in them. Empty ones can always run a B school. Or a nursing college.

4. School for Mobile phone calling etiquette. The students will have only one course to pass- How not to Annoy the Receiver of Calls. If they can learn this one thing, your job is done. But who would enroll? A question to Ponder.

5. Media anchoring school. This will have high decibel shouting matches in class, with no one able to hear the other. Direct placement offers from Times Now will follow- not now, later.

The Malayali Mind

A strange dichotomy seems to exist in Kerala. The average guy there is intelligent but avenues to use the intelligence don't seem to exist anywhere in his own state. It is racked by the wrong kind of politics, one which does not let any enterprise thrive. We all know what it did to West Bengal over the years. As a result, any intelligent student has to migrate out of the state to get a decent education in any field, and the average worker to the Gulf for a decent job.

Why the state cannot create good educational institutes in any field is hard to understand. When even so-called backward states have a few good institutions of learning in all fields, it should be a priority for Kerala too.

In contrast, places like Pune are an educational hub and attract students from all over. Even Tamilnadu gets a lot of its students from Kerala, and so does Karnataka. There is an old movie called Hum Nahin Sudhrenge, and I hope this does not continue to be the case with Kerala's job and education scene.

Tourism and IT could perhaps be job generators of even greater potential, aided by Ayurveda and medical tourism. But quality higher education must also fit in somewhere, for Kerala's own sake.