Reinventing myself

Today is 20.Jul.2011 and I would like to reinvent myself.

I want to redefine what I standfor and where I am headed and be more certain about it.

A Proud August

I am proud of the way I finished August 2010.

I finished 4 books this August. They are Super Crunchers, Buyology, A better India, A better World, and 3 Cups of Tea. I had such a blast racing against time with my books.

My Portfolio was worth EUR 8718 (incl. EUR 317 cash) on 1-Aug-2010 and it was worth EUR 9,708 (incl. 522.89 cash)on the 31st of August 2010. I made EUR 1000.

I spent three weekends with the family visiting the constance summer festival, Mainau the island in bodensee and the gorgeous Neuschweinstein castle

The one thing I wished I did a little better on was my relationship with my boss that is starting to deteriorate.

Change - Drive it / Never be driven

When the changes around you seem rapid sometimes it is better to slow down, take it easy and start understanding.

I re-read "Your iceberg is melting" a few days back.

Not Urgent: That is waht email is for.

I hired someone a few months back because I was convinced the guy was the best I could find in the market. I went on my christmas holiday (long one) and came back to only find that he had quit even before I returned from holidays (although we promised each other to wait for action). After about 2 weeks of analysis, I have understood the root cause. It is EMAIL. Yes, you read it right, it is the outright bastardization of one of the most marvellous tools of our generation, Email. Ok, to release the puzzled look on your face let me explain.

During my holidays there were some exchanges between the gentleman and some individuals who I would not hire even to do janitorial work (in some scarily senior positions)and the man got disillusioned by the attitude (rightfully so in my opinion). The exchanges show that there were not much of a face to face conversation, maybe some phone calls and possibly one real meeting. It is too late. Unfortunately for us, this gentleman brings over 15 years of expertise in the market under consideration and is one of the most respected figures across the industry (which models after the Italian Gomorrah)circles.

When I negotiate for my next role, I plan to add a 20% Blackberry tax to my compensation if I am expected to stay connected. Different from Barack Obama? Well if I choose to change the world, I will not let others intrude my life through the tool meant for the "maybe important but certainly not urgent" communication. If it is really urgent and important, call me - DO NOT send me an email or post a comment on this blog ;)

Blackberry (or email) is certainly addictive, but I wonder if Steven Covey, Michael Brimm (the INSEAD OB God) or John Maxwell (21 irrefutable laws of leadership) will approve of the current surrender of human brain to technology. It will take us another decade in my opinion to understand the power of getting things done in the real world is more important than technology ever will be. Stop hiding behind your computer and please get to work.

Negotiating with people without values

I am involved now in a big multi-party negotiation. There is nothing more frustrating than negotiating with people without values. It is much worse than people without authority. I have both kind of parties in my negotiation. Most of these people do not like setting ground rules (Italians grrr). I am inches away from walking away simply because of values. My BATNA is scarily low, but hey those negotiation instructors in INSEAD need to learn a thing or two about assigning scores in the BATNA value for human pride and values.

Leadership

A day when I am learning more about leadership than any other day in this company. I am in the middle of an organizational storm and everyone around me has been touched. Some have been touched positively and some have been touched negatively. I do not think it is right for me to judge especially the negative touches. But I am convinced, the power of °ahimsa° (Martin Luther King + Mahatma Gandhi) using non-violence to achieve victories over the more powerful does work.

Strong values and strong belief in self does take you places. I have seen it today more than any other day in my life. A smile is glowing in my face although I do think there is huge potential in the ones that lost and hope they are able to move forward in peace with themselves.

Bad times test one's character

It is incredible how much one is put to test in a crisis. I have not seen a Crisis this close from an industry that is right in the heart of the crisis. Demand in November for what we make is down 30% on the median. That is notorious in an industry with razor thin margins and very high capacity costs and full of excess capacity. Everything about the business model is value destroying (strategy 101) in the industry I am passionate about.

The sad part is how people react in the crisis. The key phenomenon I am seeing around me today is called "Grab the chair". People have clearly stopped acting in the best interest of the company. People have stopped acting to cut costs. People have stopped acting to improve morale of people down the chain. Instead people have chosen as their number one priority "Saving their chairs". Everyone will do anything and everything just to ensure that they maintain the status-quo with their jobs. No one around me sees this crisis as an opportunity to redefine the way business is done. To think how to capitalize on the opportunities when we get out of the crisis. How we can build capacity in our networks to ensure that we reduce failures and do things right first time. It is painful. Today more than ever I want to be an entrepreneur rather than an employee.