Trusting a Process

How would you react if someone you barely know asks you to trust them to get an important work done? Do you trust them Or tell them ‘nah.. let me do it myself’? This happened multiple times with me. When someone asks you that, it is a statement of confidence – either on a process or him/herself – or the guy has no clue on what he is committing. Several years ago, in Infy, one guy asked a group of 20 ppl to trust the process of a streamlining an activity. We did. But the results were poor.

Every time I go to a new gym, the instructor is all enthu to teach you. Some force you to follow what they teach. I had this experience when a friend of mine and I asked the instructor to get out of our way because we saw little value in what he told us. And typically, this enthu will evaporate in a couple of days and we are an auto-pilot after that. Instructions come on pull-basis. Sometimes, you have to pull real hard. But not when I visited this new gym a couple of days back. It has far more instructors than usual. ISB gym had one instructor or at times two. But here, the member-instructor ratio seemed close to 1:1. When a trainer approached me, I told him that I am familiar with a gym and that I can manage. He was polite and understanding. He told me my ‘schedule’ will be ready in a day. What? Will the gym lay down a schedule for me? Before I left that day, I saw a member taking a signature from the instructor on a printed card which looked like a calendar. Man, far from being do-it-yourself gym, it is a ‘we-will-treat-you-like-a-kid-but-will-get-you-what-you-want’ one. I blinked it. There is the signature of a trust worty process. The instructor then asked me to exercise in a variety of ways including a sit-in-the-air (of course on my legs) (or Baithak) exercise and forty minutes on a thread mill (as opposed to the 25-minute-4-km run I prefer). No wonder all my body is aching. I think that is the flipside of trusting a process. ;) I feel like Monalisa. It’s aching but I am still smiling.

The gym episode has good lessons for me. I am involved in an activity that requires me to design processes in a research organization. The processes should be scalable, person-independent and ensure quality and timeliness of research. The process should enable the organization to reuse knowledge generated within the company to ensure consistent quality that users need. Such processes are a sine-qua-non to build good companies. I hope to learn a bit about designing good processes.

Life is a process for mitchdolittle

DetriotGirl, an English teacher, wants her students to trust the learning process

What trust a process means to a creative professional

A question of leadership

Lack of leadership in our society is recognized. Has our society done anything to groom future leaders? Let’s say it wants do something. What can it do? Will setting up an institute to teach leadership help(1)? Will class room training make a leader? Can you teach leadership?

As an individual, if you feel the urge to become a good leader and contribute at work or to the society, how should you improve leadership skills(4)? Should you read about leaders? Get a leader-mentor? Get a business degree (2)?

What is leadership? Is it vision? Is it ability to persuade? Is it being a larger than life personality? Sacrifice? Empathy? Overwhelming urge to do something(5)? Humility and will (3)?

It seems like there are many necessary conditions and no one knows which conditions are sufficient.

(1) N R Narayana Murthy “A true leader is one who leads by example and sacrifices more than anyone else, in his or her pursuit of excellence. It is our vision at Infosys, to create world class leaders who will be at the forefront of business and technology in today's competitive marketplace. The Infosys' Leadership Institute has been conceptualized to instill in our employees creativity to bring new ideas to fruition, make transition to new paradigms and embrace change. We believe the Leadership Institute will play an instrumental role in equipping Infoscions to be leaders, contributing to the advancement of the IT industry.”

(2) ISB’s Vision

(3) Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve Jim Collins (HBR Jan 2001)

(4) Why should anyone be led by you? Rob Goffee, Gareth Jones (HBR Jan 2001)

(5) www.lokparitran.org (A new political party set up by young IITians)

A great long working weekend

What will you do if you had a long weekend, but had to work most of it? On Sunday last, I was particular to salvage it. I picked my camera and got on my bike. I wanted to get to the Marve road and find some good spots to shoot. I found ‘Kamala Talab’-- a pond near by the Malad link road--a couple of weeks back. I was hunting for another fish. The problem was that I found many. The Marve road led to a beach by the same name which is home to a fishing community. Empty boats tell you the story. Evening is not a time for great fishing action but for a couple of fishermen sorting their produce.

Unlike a usual Mumbai get away, I could not find many people around. There were some. But not up to the Mumbai standards. It seemed like a perfect setting—not having to wait in a queue.

Marve beach, to me, was truly beautiful. The ball of orange slowly and silently dipping into the blue expanse and vanishing for the day swept us off our feet. Good for them yaar! Atleast people can, after a gruelling day's work, amble on the shore and the let the breeze recharge their frayed nerves. I miss it. (Gargi Chowdhury)

The beach is famous. Actually there are two beaches. The other one is usually crowded as it can house more and commercial interests ensure they use their capacity. When you go there the first time, you are likely to miss the Marve beach and go to‘theresort’ as the sign boards all point to the second one. May be that is good. Let the madding crowd to to the Resort. And the value hunters to the Marve beach.

The people there are friendly. They asked me to take their pictures. I was happy to oblige.

I spent an hour or so taking pictures, talking to people, and bathing in the evening sun light. And it was time to get back to work. I turned around and beauty of the sun set in my rear window struck me. I just then packed my camera. And I was lazy to reassemble it. But I knew, I wouldn’t let such an opportunity go.

The gradient [This rope connected a boat to the anchor in the sea]

[CS: A fisherman sleeping on road on his fishing net unaware of the world around him.]

16 April, 2006. Marve Beach. Mumbai.

A post on Versova beach: http://trivialmatters.blogspot.com/2006/04/versova-morning.html
Information on beaches in Mumbai: http://www.mumbaisuburbs.com/mumbai-tourist/mumbai-sights-beaches-other.html

Blink Positive

Analysis paralysis. If you have this disease, Blink is a good book to read. In short it says, you can decide, and make the right decision, in the blink of an eye, without analyzing loads of data. It says great decision makers "perfect art of 'thin slicing' - knowing the very few things that matter."

"It's a book about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions. Well, "Blink" is a book about those two seconds."

Blink tells me, "dude, conclude the analysis... what comes to your mind first? Go with it!" I found this book useful in dealing with people... especially interviews. Just thin slice... get hold of a small and relevant piece of info and 'blink' the whole. The warmth in conversation, enthusiasm, a messy desk, an inappropriate comment, lack of response to your mail... all have their unique and unmistakable signatures. Consider much simpler example. If you ask an easy question like 'name the financial statments of a company.' Two guys may give the same answer . But you can develop 'signatures' of a guy who has reasonable knowledge of the topic and the guy who does not. I tried this multiple times. There is no need to ask further questions.

Turn this the other way around. What will others think of you when they see the 'signatures' you leave? It's scary because people draw conclusions about you left and right. That's why, Blink raises the bar. If you want to make a favorable impression, you have to be always at your best. Short-term averages are irrelavant. What matters is your long-term average. Did you eat well today? Don't be satisfied because your body reflects your long-term average. Not today's. Not this week's.

Can you change how people blink you? Each time you do better than what others expect, they blink.. sort of update the 'database' with an actual eye blink. Observe. You do better or you do different stuff than you used to, people blink. It could be positive or negative. The more positive blinks you get, the better it is for you because they are thinking higher and higher about you. This is connected with 'under promise and over deliver' thingie. If you would like to do something, don't tell every one that you will. If you do, it becomes a promise. And people are checking out whether you can live up to it. Don't promise, or promise low. But give your best shot. And exceed expectations. They blink positive. Many positive blinks put together will give you a relationship based on trust and confidence. "Exceed expectations" was one of the three things Rajat Gupta spoke about during our graduation ceremony.

Overall, it's a good book to read.

Amazon
How Blink relates to Poker
A review

Kanakambaram (Fire cracker)

Feb 28, 2006. Kothagudem.

The name Kanakambaram is kanaka (gold) and ambaram (precious) stitched together. Is it surprising that women like this flower?

Our house in Kothagudem is home to many Kanakambaram plants. Just opposite the 'front door,' as we call it, and the slider for my dad's Vespa, there are a few of them. I have been seeing these flowers since my childhood. Frankly, I didn't see the beauty in this flower until I shot this picture. It turned out better than what I thought it will. I like the pop-out effect--it reminds me of the palm in Kalanjali's logo. And the contrasting colors.

The scientifically or religiously inclined can get more info in these two reads:
An article on Kanambaram (The Hindu)
South is famous for flowers

New camera; new possibilities

I graduated to a Digital SLR recently. I used to find my Olympus zoom camera so limiting that I had to shoot many pictures before I get what I want. In the mean while, the 'subject' (like a bird) will usually hurry away or get impatient (like my nephew would).


Suddenly a lot more seems possible. But I am still coping with the complexity of shooting with a D-SLR.

This picture is a ceiling fan [when it is on ;-) ] as seen from right underneath it. Observe part of the circle on the bottom left.

Managing Oneself

How should I shape my career? Will this job be a stepping stone to my goals? Did these questions bother you? Managing Oneself (Peter F Drucker, HBR Apr '99) turns the pointer inwards. “Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.”

“Knowing where one belongs can transform an ordinary person – hardworking and competent but otherwise mediocre – into an outstanding performer” says Drucker. “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves- their strengths, their values and how best they perform”

I have been working on developing specific skill sets and the article comes in handy as a framework. It asks you questions and for which there are no immediate answers. You have to evaluate yourself for a period of 2-3 years before you can answer them. It lets you ask the right questions so you can answer the more important ones. Reading this article is enlightening. At the least, it is time well spent.