Learning Agility

How do companies identify high potential employees? Different organizations use different approaches. There are a host of assessments that can provide data on various competencies that makes leaders successful. There are competencies that leaders need to translate their vision of the future into a strategy. They need to have the competencies to communicate and inspire the stakeholders to buy into that vision. They also need to be able to cobble together a team that will execute that plan. To continue to be successful repeatedly requires leaders to be agile learners. To learn from heir own experience of success and failure. they also need to learn from others success and failure. They are risk takers. Leadership success goes to those who are learning agile. I had attended a workshop by Bob Eichinger where he had outlined the four factors that make up Learning Agility.
Read more

The Art of Woo

If you think people need to listen to your ideas just because they are bright, then go away and read this book that I just finished reading. The real world needs to be persuaded. In fact, you need to woo people to succeed in selling your ideas. Having smart ideas is necessary but not sufficient. Wharton Profs Shell and Moussa have tried to turn wooing into a science by giving those step by step instructions that people just LOVE! The picture of the two parakeets should become the mnemonic for you everytime you want to woo someone. Notice there is no club being used by the parakeet while wooing. In fact the one trying to woo is facing the object of attention. Yeah, it is always about understanding the others needs and point of view before you start your spiel.

Read more

Married But Available and The Hindu

This year I had received a Valentine’s Day gift. Only I did not know I had got a gift. My second novel Married But Available had hit the bestsellers list of The Hindu newspaper – a leading daily newspaper in English in India. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2008 The Hindu is the third most-widely read English newspaper in India (after Times of India and Hindustan Times) with a readership of 5.2 million. I have often wondered if commercial fiction and literary fiction should share a common bestseller list. Is that fair? Then again, can bestseller lists be made for different genres? Probably not. If so, we are back to where we started – lists are made across genres. So here are the bestsellers in fiction from the Hindu newspaper’s Vishakhapatnam edition dated 14 Feb 2009 (need I add that I love the people of Vizag for their great literary choice … see proof below. Read more

The Curious Case of 221 B

The quizmaster’s question to you is, “Which fictional character lived at 221 B, Baker Street?” The answer is  Sherlock Holmes. You know that. Of course you do. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the first public appearance of Holmes was in 1887. Sherlock Holmes birthday is generally deduced to be January 6, 1854. Holmes lived with his good friend and chronicler Watson, before his (Watson’s) marriage in 1887, and again after his wife’s  death.  Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term “canon” is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle’s original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters.
Read more

Quick Gun Murugan

Quick Gun Murugan’s official website says, “Quick Gun Murugun is an unlikely Superhero with Guntastic powers. He is a sincere South Indian Cowboy who considers it his duty to serve and protect. The movie revolves around mis-adventures of Quick Gun Murugun and his fight with his arch villain Rice Plate Reddy! In 1994, a maverick called Sashank Ghosh (MBA from University of Jodhpur), left MTV to become the creative head at Channel Vand created a character called Quick Gun Murugan. Those “fillers” in between programs were a rage among the youth. Quick Gun Murugan trailers quickly became the talk of the town especially in the colleges across India. It introduced the phrase “We are like this only” as a tagline that reflected the growing comfort with Indian English. Years later in the film Om Shanti Om, Shahrukh Khan imitated this character complete it the catchphrase “Enna Rascala”! This is an out and out spoof on film heros who duck bullets, thulp twenty attackers without ruining the shirt crease. The character is said to have been inspired by MGR, the cult movie hero of yesteryears in Tamil films. Read more

Next Page »