The Lord Of Myself

Twinkle, twinkle little star...!! Shoot for the stars, even if you miss those you'll reach the moon.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Anger Management ..huh!!

..i hate the phrases like Anger mgmt, stress mgmt! Why does anyone want to manage such devils?Anger and stress aren't something to be managed, but are to be abolished, neglected and flushed out from the system.

BUT HOW? Don't tell me such cheap tricks like counting 1 to 10 or 10 to 1 in reverse order or deep breathing or drinking water (may be beer) or going out for a walk or some such philosiphical crap!

Personally, I vent my anger by breaking something or throwing something out or expressing myself delightfully loud or insulting others or keeping mum out & burn inside - so bad huh?? Up on reflection, I think anger is some sort of chemical reaction within body in response to an unfavorable external event - and why are some events favorable and some unfavorable to us?

Because, we've certain expectations from Life and any event that meets those expectations are termed favorable and those which aren't are termed unfavorable - common sense huh? Not having expectations or desires is not a solution to flush stress or anger out - not having those is like dying; However, more realistic solution seems to be accepting life or events or circumstances as they are with proper planning for future dreams/wishes, along with an incorporated feedback mechanism. Everyone makes mistakes, but only few accept their faults and learn from those so as not to repeat - you gotta be one of those few to flush anger and stress out. If life turns out to be as exactly as you expect it to be - wouldn't that be the most boring thing? So - don't flush out life's excitement, flush out only the anger and stress part!

tata...Satish

p.s: I agree, it is easy to say and difficult to practice, but remember - no pain, no gain!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Managing a manager..!!

The word 'manager' has been so distorted that it has become synonymous with 'manipulator', 'team-overhead', 'non-value add', 'meddler' and what not. Partly, this distortion is well-deserved and justified because of the displayed behavior, action (or non-action), and character of the person in the managerial position. What the heck a manager is supposed to do anyway?

If you ask this question to any manager, he would probably say - plan, organize, control, coordinate and some similar bull crap! How can they ever improve or monitor themselves - if they don't what they are supposed to do? Most of their time is spent on dousing daily fires - seldom reflective/proactive - frequent interruptions - politicking - bossing around/supervising: do these activities suggest planning, organizing and other such superlatives...?

I liked one of the classic HBR articles which talked about what a manager ideally is supposed to do! In brief, he needs to perform ten roles - categorized under interpersonal roles (3), informational roles (3), and decisional roles (4); If one understands these 10 roles and their interplay, I am sure any manger appreciates their true sense and improves accordingly and no one would mistake 'manipulator' for 'manager'; The roles are: Figurehead, Leader, Liaison; Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson; Entrepreneur, Disturbance handler, resource allocator, Negotiator

tata...Satish

Friday, March 14, 2008

Business of the Business ??

..really what is the business of the business? ..quite a few pop up in my mind: new products/services, making money, creating wealth, economic well-being, societal contribution, shareholder satisfaction, customer delight, employement etc, etc I believe the answer to it depends on from which side of the prism you are looking through? Let me look through the enterprenurial angle and see how it goes..!

As per an article I recently glanced through, new businesses can pop up under only two scenarios: one, when new products/services are discovered either through technological breakthoughs or serendepity and secondly, when one uses his talent/imagination/all sorts of capital in overcoming the existing inefficiencies in the market; Quite understandably, both these scenarios are rare and difficult, which explains the rarity of success among new business ventures - so really, the business of the business is to create new business opportunities or Kaizen so to speak!

tata..Satish