A trip to the Deep Waters

This is my annual travelogue. Last one was on a trek to Sumatra, Indonesia. This time it is my diving expedition! Read to share with the excitement of scuba diving....

The Charm of the Seas

I was always crazy about the sea. Her charm is almost mesmerizing; the cool breeze moist with salty vapours has a magical touch to soothe the mind and rejuvenate the body. When I was in Jakarta I got an opportunity to take up sailing and I jumped at it with all my heart. I used to explore the open seas in a single seater dinghy sail boat (laser) for hours together, sometimes drifting in light wind and sometimes clipping in tight winds. It gave a feeling of high and a feeling of calm, a two-in-one package from the Mother Nature.

I also joined my friends on their diving trips; but restricted myself to snorkelling around a few of the coral islands. It offered a glimpse to the world under the choppy waves, a wonderland with brilliant colours, shapes and textures. The coral reef with its wild hues and out-of-the-world designs had a vibrancy of its own. Schools of fishes with scintillating colours dancing around beckoned me to their world and I was convinced that I should take up scuba diving to be one with them for a few minutes and not limit to a birds-eye view from the top.

I decided that I would take up scuba diving only after my daughter was old enough to join me. And I was ready to wait. When she was twelve, though I was not actively looking around in Mumbai for a dive trainer, I bumped into Jurgen Van Duffel, a certified dive instructor, and I immediately signed up for Isabella and me. (His outfit is suitably named The Life Aquatic with Lacadives)

He is quite passionate about his profession and takes his role as an instructor quite seriously. He delivered a five hour lecture cum demonstration and then gave us a 300 page book which covered quite a lot of theoretical foundation on diving. This included what equipment to use, what are the best practices to follow, how to take care of the risks of air embolism, nitrogen narcosis, oxygen narcosis, decompression sickness, and the discipline and etiquette under the sea. He made it clear that we should go down as visitors and not as plunderers and the colourful artifacts are only to see and not to borrow for our sitting room.

Then he took us to a swimming pool and taught us how to handle the equipment and the made us practice various exercises that we are expected to be familiar with to handle occasional emergencies; what to do if I run out of air, what to do if the air supply cable (the regulator) comes off, how to handle a cramp, how to take of and put on the total dive gear in the sea both at the surface and down under. He made us do this in the pool and told us that we should repeat this in the sea, for him to be convinced that we were good enough to be let loose in open water. In many of the exercises which needed a flexible body, Isabella did better than I! And she was mighty thrilled about it.

Initially we planned to go to the Andamans or Mali or even Indonesia for the dive certification. Then we decided to complete the certification somewhere near and then go to the far away locations as pros :- )

Jurgen promised me that Murudeswar near Mangalore was a good place to start. So we started our annual Christmas holidays there.

Where history and Fables meet

A three hour drive from Mangalore airport brought us to RNS Residency which is the best hotel in Murudeswar. It is situated on a cliff overlooking the sea with most of the rooms offering a brilliant view of the sea. You can sit at the balcony sipping coffee and stare at the vast expanse of the open sea.

Murudeswar is another name of Lord Shiva (the Hindu God) and as per mythology it considered to be the place where the cloth covering the ‘atmalinga’ fell after Ravana the demon king of Ramayana flung it upon his realization that he had been cheated by the Gods [1]. Therefore this is one of the five holy places of Shiva.

The temple is situated on ‘Kanduka Hills’ surrounded on the three sides by Arabian Sea. The temple complex has the world’s largest Shiva idol (123 ft/ 37 mt) and a 20 storied tower (Raj Gopura which is 249 ft tall is supposed to be the world’s tallest Gupura).

The idol of the meditating Siva with a brilliant silver body and the golden snake around his neck gets sunlight all through the day, giving it a brilliant sparkle. The sculptors from Shimoga have captured the divine serenity of Shiva’s face very well.

A new fear to conquer

We were filled with anticipation about our first real dive and apprehension about how we could manage. Both father and daughter showed off how cool we felt; but the fear in our eyes was almost palpable.

The dive spot was near Netrani island about one and a half hour boat ride (about 20 kms) from the mainland. It is also called the ‘Pigeon Island”. The adjacent island is used by Indian Navy for target practice and one may see empty shells around Netrani too. Jurgen told me that in his previous trip he managed to see some unexploded torpedoes.

Netrani is a coral island and there are many exotic and endangered marine lives around. Out of the nine grouper fish species identified at the island, Cheilinus undulates (Humphead wrasse) was endangered and Rhincodon typus (whale shark) vulnerable. Netrani Island, which boasts two types of coral reefs, also has seven seaweed species, 12 jelly fish species, six sponge species, 92 finfish species, 17 crab species, four lobster species and three sea snake species, among others [2].

This island looks like an upturned boat from far and the steep cliff all around gives it the appearance of an imposing fort when you are near it.

Rawat who runs the local dive shop Dreamz Diving got all the necessary dive permits from the local police (After 26/11 there is strict requirement of permits for any diving or snorkelling in these locations).We loaded up our gear into a fisherman’s boat and started out to the dive spot at around 9 am. The sea was really choppy and the boat was getting tossed around. By the time we reached the dive spot, Isabella was really sea sick and surprisingly (considering the fact that I used to sail a lot) my stomach was also churning. We anchored near the island and the waves were really harsh. We decided to kit up in the water and jumped into the sea.

The waves were so high that at one point I saw the sick, puzzled and uneasy face of Isabella with strong traces of fear, when she was lifted up by a wave more than 5 feet high. With some difficulty and lot of help from Jurgen and Rawat both of us got into our diving gear. We were being thrown around like empty coconut shells. I threw up whatever was left in my stomach. I was thankful that I did it before I went down with the regulator in my mouth (Jurgen comforted me that the regulator is designed to allow the diver to vomit, if needed, without taking the regulator out; what a relief I should say!)

This also was un-nerving experience for Isa and she was shaken. But still she was ready to proceed. I went down first, slowly holding on to the line to about seven metres and waited for Isa to come down with Jurgen.

I was quite nervous and also worried about Isa. After about 25 minutes, Jurgen came down with the bad news. Isa appeared to have an infection in the ear that was hindering her equalization process as she descended and she had to abandon her dive.

I climbed back to the boat and found her sprawled in the bottom like a withering flower. So we abandoned the dive plan for the day. The sea was still rough and I had to reach out of the boat and vomit again. We were now on the way back to the hotel, dejected and almost wondering whether it was really our cup of tea.

We were tired and pooped and crashed out completely the whole afternoon; of course after a sumptuous lunch from Naveen restaurant which is the only decent non-vegetarian joint in town. This also belongs to RN Shetty who owns practically everything in town from hotel to hospital to school to colleges and the temple.

Anyway I decided to take written exam for my certification and the fact that I scored 90% was a morale booster; the only one for the day.

The next day morning we decided that Isa was still not ready for the plunge (ear problem) and I decided to do it alone. The weather was beautiful and the sea was calm. I did not want anything to deny me the excitement.

So I swallowed a tablet to prevent sea sickness.

We kitted up in the boat to avoid any waste of time and by the time we anchored we were ready for a back-flip, though I was a bit apprehensive about a back-flip fully kitted.

I released the air from the BCD and we were slowly sinking and Jurgen guided me down to eight meters and then lead me forward initially holding my hand. I was uncomfortable and not sure of the uncertain surrounding. Jurgen had promised that all the tests would only be in the next dive and helped me to get comfortable slowly.

With some trial and error, I got my neutral buoyancy right and drifted forward. The feeling of weightlessness with perfect buoyancy gave a heady feeling. I stopped being hassled and started feeling snug and secure in this new surroundings.

I started experimenting with this new freedom of multidirectional mobility; up, down, right, left, vertical, horizontal; a near approximation to zero G. Wow! Now that I was sure that I could survive and not too conscious about the apparatus that was strapped around me, I looked around to cherish the dazzling colours and varied shapes dancing, prancing and serenading around me, offering one of the best private performances; a one of a kind choreography of life that bring more variations than any maestro can dream of.

Then the pressure gauge reminded us that this was not our home turf and we needed get back to the boat for our air supply. I had almost started feeling at home here. Although the dive site was

next to the island, it was not possible to land there as there was no sandy beach; just an imposing wall of rock.

After the lunch, (consisting of a few biscuits and some juice) we were ready for the next dip. Jurgen wanted me to first finish my exercise before we drifted. I could do them all OK and then we moved forward with Jurgen leading the way. I was feeling quite at ease with buoyancy under control and was managing the dive quite well.

We moved along and the sight around was really beautiful. The rock structure around the island which at times formed meandering passages with rocky sidewalls was quite impressive; and offered a feeling of adventure. The fishes did not appear to be scared but were happy to move out of the way. Then came an angel fish to the centre stage like a prima donna; absolutely unconcerned

about the human company (or was she performing for the humans?). She did an aweso

me dance, flipping and flopping against the granite background that I was convinced that she had witnessed the shooting for ‘Blue Hindi movie’ or ‘Kites’ down under and watched the Bollywood models in action! This dive too lasted for about 50 minutes.

We saw a variety of fishes including Moray Eel, Parrot Fish, Snappers, Trigger Fish, Angel Fish, Butterfly Fish, Trevally and Puffer Fish. All these names and species were Greek and Latin for me and Jurgen gave me a crash course on nature appreciation. The fauna was great though flora was not much; at least where I have been. We also saw some patches of coral. (The diving enthusiasts may read a better written dive report by a more seasoned diver giving much better details)

I missed having Isa with me after all the extensive planning and she was heartbroken too. We promised ourselves to venture again in near future to make up for what we missed.

Winding Down with Water Sports

We decided to stay for a day more at Murudeswar after the dive to relax and enjoy the beautiful seashore. The sea was quite calm and shallow for quite a distance. The beaches were nice and sandy. There were a few jet skies and two inflatable bumper boats tied to a speed boat that tugged these bumpers quite fast on top of the waves. The boatman was good and made the whole ride quite exciting like a roller coaster with both the floats flinging all around and bumping into each other.

Isabella and I enjoyed this very much and kept going back to them. We also went for a ride in the boat to a small island nearby called honeymoon island. We were not lucky, like most of the tourists, to see any dolphins which were supposed to be there. Anand the operator of these rides was quite an enterprising person and was sharing with me his dreams of how he planned to make that place more interesting.

Adios to Murudaswar

The drive back to Mangalore airport with Ganesh our driver explaining the stories about everything on the way was an experience in itself. For a long stretch NH 17 passes between Arabian Sea and Souparnika River. We stopped at the roadside at Marawante where on one side of the road is the sea and on the other side the river. A boatman appeared from nowhere and offered to take us for a ride in the river and show us Padukone village , the native place of the famous Prakash Padukone. now more famous as the father of Deepika Padukone a noted Film Actress.

We stopped at the beach resort Turtle Bay which is about 110 Kms from Mangalore. Quite a nice place, with 14 cottages and pristine private beach and offers a variety of water sports including diving are. I met with Abraham Chacko who owns this place and realised that we were neighbours in Kerala. World is really a small place.

He has been here for about 20 years and enjoys life in sync with nature. The resort also offers exposure to yoga and appears to be a wonderful retreat. The food was quite tasty and was value for money.

Back to Mangalore Airport to take us to Kochi for our one week whirlwind tour to enjoy what the ‘God’s own country” can offer.

The only question Isabella and I have in our mind is, “when is our next dive trip?”

Reference

[1] The history of the Murudeshwara temple dates back to the period of Ramayana. Legend says that Ravana (the Lanka King), prayed Lord Shiva in a strong devotion to attain immortality by getting the AtmaLinga. Atma Linga is the divine Lingam of Shiva that gains immortality to the Hindu Gods. As a result of the worship by Ravana, Lord Shiva appeared before him and asked him for a boon. Ravana requested the AtmaLinga as his boon. Lord Shiva agreed to give him the boon but on a condition that the AtmaLinga should never be kept on the ground. It is believed that if the AtmaLinga was placed on the ground, all the powers would return to Lord Shiva. Ravana started back on his journey to Lanka with the AtmaLinga.

However, Sage Narada realized that Ravana may obtain immortality and create ruin on earth with the AtmaLinga. He approached Lord Ganesh to help him. When Ravana neared Gokarna, Lord Vishnu blocked the sun and made it as dusk. Ravana wanted to perform his evening rituals. He was worried because the AtmaLinga was in his hands and he would not be able to do his rituals. At that moment, Lord Ganesh came near him in the mask of a Brahmin boy. Ravana requested him to keep the AtmaLinga until he performed the rituals. He told the boy not to place it on the ground. But Lord Ganesh fixed a deal with him. He said he would call Ravana thrice, and if Ravana did not return, he would place the AtmaLinga on the ground. As decided, Ravana could not return all of a sudden and Ganesh placed the Atma-Linga on the ground. The angered Ravana tried to pull up the AtmaLinga and destroy it but failed. He threw the holder of the linga to a place called Sajjeshwara which is 23 miles away and the lid of the case to a place called Gunavanthe (earlier known as Guneshwara) and Dhareshwara, 10-12 miles away. At last, he threw the cloth covering the AtmaLinga to a place called Mrideshwara in Kanduka Hill (Kanduka-Giri). Mrideshwara is later renamed as Murudeshwara.

Source: http://www.hindudevotionalblog.com/2009/05/murudeshwar-shiva-temple-karnataka.html

[2]Source Govind D. Belgaumkar, reporting in Hindu May 25, 2008

Salute to Middle Class Morality

“How do you make a line shorter without rubbing of a part of it?”

“Draw a bigger line next to it”

This is a riddle as well as it teaches you how to compete like a gentleman. It teaches you that you should try to win by doing better than your competition and not by belittling and demeaning your opponent by spreading canards or through unethical means.

However, when we see the way many of our senior political & business leaders and bureaucrats behave, one wonders whether these lessons on values that are often preached are nothing but a way to build the ranks of the ‘middleclass’, the ‘common man’ enmeshed in the “middle class morality” as Eliza Doolittle’s father observes in “My Fair Lady”. Quoting Paul Samuelson, out of context, “The less of them who become sophisticated, the better for us happy few” [1] so that there are splendid opportunities to skim ‘alpha’ not just from the capital market but in many more segments.

Once you are playing a game of high stakes, whether in politics or in finance, nothing else other than self aggrandisement at whatever cost seems to be the norm. Even governance (corporate or otherwise) is often about how ‘not to get caught’ or how to become ‘too big to fail’.

The fourth estate also joins the melee and surrenders valuable real estate in the news papers that could be well used for more useful purposes. In fact, they happily join those who are looking for ways & means to denigrate and suppress people or institutions who are trying to make a difference; sometimes by mis-representing facts or by publishing one-sided or biased reports. Some even let themselves to be used to fight private wars and push private agendas.

Shashi Tharoor makes an innocuous remark on ‘cattle class’ then we see a barrage of criticism and moral posturing much more than warranted. Sachin Tendulkar makes a statement that Mumbai belong to India and there is protest from some quarters. (There are many more examples, but I have limited to the less controversial) But then these have news value

The irresponsible coverage, of the 26/11 siege, by many channels demonstrates what is there for sale in the fight for better visibility. Some of the television coverage would have provided the terrorists better support than they could have managed with their friends and well wishers out in the front!

On the other hand, many utterly reprehensible behaviour even in the parliament hall and the shameless looting of public funds to the extent of thousands of crore get easily suppressed quite fast.

This is the reality that every thinking person has to confront. Being true to yourself like Roark or be willing to renounce your conviction for expediency like Wynand in Ayn Rand’s “Fountainhead”.

If we do not build a bureaucratic machinery and elect political leadership which largely serve the public, have a judiciary that protects those who try and a responsible press that provides dispassionate and honest reporting, there is no doubt where the majority is going to be.

1. Capital Ideas Evolving; Peter L Bernstein

Of Intel Boxes & Intel People

I have many geek friends who are willing to help me be in the know of the new trends in the field of Information Technology (IT). One of the ideas that has caught my attention for some time is how to manage large and mission critical applications with commodity hardware which is often referred to as Intel Boxes.

Normally when we think about mission critical data centres, reliability and scalability takes precedence over cost. Then what come to our mind are high end servers and mainframe computers that cost oodles of money.

With everybody, industry, government, health et al looking for more and more data to crunch, conventional approaches to data centre management soon reaches its limit and explodes in cost. That is when smart geeks put together solutions that can manage this big number with arrays of commodity hardware.

The basic idea of software design in this paradigm is that any box in the array should be allowed to fail without affecting serviceability.

When a box fails the technician just walk across, pulls out the faulty piece and replaces it with a similar piece. With commodity hardware, it is not too costly to store enough spares. Important thing to take care of is, to use standard hardware and standard system software consistently across.

My friend Shuvam (who is one of the best techies in town) recently made a presentation on this, at our office. The key learning from his presentation were:-

When you are confronted with any problem which requires data crunching on millions of records (like Insurance premium, Interest calculations, MIS report generation, Searches through large data sets) or any transaction system which has a very high rate of transactions on unrelated records (like Trading systems, Settlement systems, Core banking system, Issuing Unique Id to Indian residents) the solution is to set up (i) A cluster of cheap servers with local disks with High-speed connectivity (Gigabit or faster) then (ii)Slice data horizontally, (iii) distribute among nodes, (iv) Send the query out to all nodes, so that each node can compute and send back answers, (v)Aggregate the results coming from the nodes, and (vi)Re-do logging for fault tolerance. Divide and Conquer!

In a layman’s language, it means that we learn to use lots of average people to do complex and large scale processes. This is what the Mumbai Dabbawalas have shown in human processes much before Google demonstrated in IT processes. A brilliant implementation with ‘common hardware’, none of them individually equipped with any training in logistics management or operations research, collectively manage a highly scalable and reliable service delivery with better than six sigma levels of quality.
What are the conceptual framework that is common to both Google data centre and Mumbai Dabbawala that is worth learning?

Process design that allows for any component to fail, i.e.; the processes should be as person independent as possible and it should be possible to scale by adding more components without adding to the complexity.

The key ingredients that one needs to take care of this are;

i) Ensure that the process flow is really smooth with no scope for inventory pile-ups
ii) Break down the job to clear and self contained modules that can be performed without waiting for instruction from the top
iii) Develop Crystal clear ‘standard operating procedures’
iv) Make sure that each member joining the team has this SOP embedded to his brain stem and not just uploaded to his brain
v) Have enough redundancies

This same idea is one of the core components of what Toyota people have popularised as the LEAN principle in manufacturing.

One of the big concerns that we often hear from the mangers is that they are unable to deliver and or scale because they can’t afford to have high quality people (sort of IBM mainframes and Sun Servers) for doing mundane things as smart people are costly and difficult to retain. The discussion above shows how you can scale with Intel Boxes and Intel People.

You don’t need such high-end hardware (human ware) in abundance to build
‘Teams that Scale' ; what you need is to have a leader who has a vision and a committed team of evangelists (Jesus Christ and his twelve disciples) who can build and motivate troops who are willing to build on their faith.

Leading from the front – Part II

I recently met up with a person who was in Hotel Taj on that fateful 26/11 (in fact he is the only one person whom I personally know who was involved in this tragedy). He came out unscathed and could narrate his experience of escape. He was in that part of the hotel where the action was limited and the policemen were getting the guests out using fireman’s ladder. His neighbour was an old lady of about 75 years old and she was also offered a ladder to get down.

Then they realised that while the ladder offered to my friend was extendable (which meant it could retract so that there was no need to climb down), the ladder extended to the old lady was of fixed length (which meant that she had to climb down all those steps). Looking at the difficulty faced by the old lady, my friend suggested that the retractable ladder be offered to her and he would use the fixed ladder. However, the people handling the ladders were not willing to oblige. Because, they had to get an authorisation from the senior officers to make this change and at that time they were not available. The old lady and my friend realised that it is not worth arguing about and she, with great difficulty, climbed down to safety.

A more ridiculous example of bureaucratic delay is the example quoted by Arun Shourie in his book ‘Governance” . He explains in detail the long winding journey, across multiple ministries, of a clarification about what ink colour officers can use in the file noting. At the end of the journey that lasted almost 12 months two procedural clauses were added to the ‘Manual of Office Procedure’ which contradicted with each other.

We often associate such penchant for technicalities and bureaucratic delays in the working of the government. But this is not an exclusive domain of the government only. This kind of behaviour is seen in the private sector too; especially when an organisation gets larger.

What are the key drivers that determine the extent of this bureaucracy?

Result Vs Function Orientation

It is the normal tendency of a majority of people to see their roles limited to their functional silos. They seldom see or feel that they are part of a process to serve an end client. They get married to the rules and SOPs with a limited appreciation of what these rules and SOPs are meant to achieve. Compliance to procedure becomes more important than the substance of the policy.

They fail (are scared) to interpret exceptions in the light of the first principles and get stuck in a ‘case for which no sub-routine is in place’.

Distorted incentive structure

Very often the performance evaluation and incentive structure do not encourage freedom of interpretations. Rather you get punished for such initiatives. It is in such structure that informal incentives become the primary drivers for initiatives.

Over-Regulation

The same distorted incentives and function orientation among the regulators also lead to punitive measures which fail to take into account the intent and belief behind the actions i.e.; purely on rules and not the principle behind. This becomes a vicious cycle. Often this gets augmented by the ego trips that accompanies positions of power.

Sensationalism

These days the over-drive of journalistic sensationalism acts as a source of adrenalin and in certain cases and reason for retracting into a shell in some other cases.

What are the ingredients that compensates for these?

It is like the stock market; many factors quantifiable and non-quantifiable contribute. In my experience, of all the factors, the most critical factors are leadership with courage & integrity as a culture are the two founding pillars and also the most difficult to build up.

Leadership with courage

If an organisation is lead by leaders who are confident of themselves and have the courage to stand up for what they believe in, then none of these can be major drags. Like Thomas Jefferson quipped “Democracy is one man with courage”

Integrity as an organisational culture

Courage can act as a narcotic and result orientation can fail to be watchful about the means and sometimes the end. Often the management let these practices flourish as it also brings in the business. Then when the 'shit hits the roof' you are forced to make out of court settlements and this can happen even to the best of organisations.

The only check against this is the integrity level you have cultivated as a culture.

If we closely look at any successful institutions you will surely see these two.

This is the legacy that Mr C B Bhave left for NSDL (the institution that he built from scratch)

Market Power & Relationships...

What drives relationships? A number of factors influence relationships between people. This could be love, money, connections, affection, protection, power, position et al. I will use one collective word for all these together. ‘Market Power”. I have chosen these two words to collectively represent the drivers of relationships, as these two words reveal key components of relationships.

The word “market” reminds us that in most relationships there is an exchange i.e.; there is a give(r) and a take(r). “Power” reminds us that in relationships there is high possibility for one to have a larger influence (power) on the other.

Let us take a look at the various dimensions of this ‘Market Power’

In the absence of either of these constituents no relationships can survive. This is applicable for any relationship, be it business or personal.

As you can observe, some sources of market power are what you are; a loving father/ son/ husband, a caring friend, a sensible mentor. We can term it as “the Person Factor”. Some sources are what you possess; money, power, connection. We can term this as “the Possession Factor”

Market power is derived out of both. If the market power in a relationship is derived out of a combination in which “the Person Factor” forms a larger component the relationship may sustain for a longer period. If the driver is the Possession Factor” the relationship may not last so much or may last only till time “the Possession” lasts or only till that time ‘the Possession” is relevant to the other person.

Sometimes the relationship starts out of ‘the Possession Factor’ and grows to encompass ‘the Person Factor’.

In relationships that are driven by ‘the Possession Factor’, the more valuable the possession it is, the higher the market power. So in short term they can have a larger influence. But it is important to remember, that such relationships often lack depth.

One of the traps of the relationships out of ‘the Possession Factor’ is that it becomes demanding. If such demands become excessive then this relationship may degenerate or become exploitative. The other party may tolerate the demands if there is no choice and/or only if there is something to gain.

In relationships, if your demands are perceived to be unreasonable then the other party may cease to be open and frank. You will be told only what you want to hear. But no active effort nurture relationship or even try to add value to what is brought to the table.

This is the trap very often people in power fall to. Senior officers often get used to giving dictates and doling out favours and lose the skill to welcome suggestions or criticism. In such cases the relationships becomes very unbalanced and they cease to learn new things; which in the long run is counterproductive.

It makes enormous sense to develop a skill to judge the drivers in any relationships. How to manage this skill is a personal decision. Some may use it to pursue a strategy of having balanced relationships. Some may not.

But there is no doubt that this skill is a key ingredient in executive survival kit! On the other hand it can also help you to be realistic in your expectations...

Tour of Duty - Fiction

I was excited when our HR manager asked me if I would like to volunteer for a community service project in Mobuto in Africa sponsored by our company. Being a multinational company with presence all over country, we sponsored a variety of community service projects in under-developed countries.

I was bored of the routine office life and was keen to have some adventure in my life. A six month assignment in a tribal village in the beautiful rain forests of Africa sounded appealing. It was a fully paid holiday and there was a special hardship allowance. It also satisfied a craving in my heart for doing something for the poor and needy. So I agreed wholeheartedly.

This particular project was a part of a large project under the aegis of the Bank. The field level supervision was by an NGO and many sub-projects were sponsored by companies like ours.

After a long journey from Singapore and a long ride in a Pejaro, we finally reached Mobuto a small town which was the coordinating office for the community welfare projects of that rejoin. We were taken to the guest house maintained by the NGO. Quite a nice and comfortable set up; with air conditioners, mosquito proofing and all the amenities that a city-bred fellow like me would be happy to have.

The project sponsored by my company provided for educational support for three tribal villages. We had set up a primary school that could accommodate about 100 students. The school tried to teach the students how to read and write, elements of basic hygiene etc. It had teachers who were trained locals. Our project also funded a continuous supply of faculty support like me who would come for six months assignments partly to upgrade the quality of teachers and partly to supervise the work.

I stayed in the guest house and first couple of weeks were spent in acclimatising to the new place and learning the language. In the evening the local project co-ordinator who was from UK on a one year assignment came over for a whisky and some local gossip. He also narrated how the local chief was being well taken care to ensure that the mining right to the nearby Copper Mines were not jeopardised by the rebels.

After two weeks of familiarisation to the local culture, I visited the school which was about 20 km into the forests. The three local teachers were a pleasant lot and shared with me the challenges they face in attracting, retaining and educating the tribal kids who would rather go in to the forests to pick fruits and firewood.

By the time I finished my chat with the teachers, David came over to collect the package that I had carried for him. I was surprised to see a young handsome white gentleman about 22 years of age. He was from Boston and was staying in the village to help them and teach them with better community health. He has been there for almost 18 months. I was impressed by his dedication and commitment.

Every day I visited the village school I also ensured that I visited David and spent some time with him. I wanted to do whatever that I could to provide moral support to this self-sacrificing boy.

He took me to his hut and introduced me to his wife. She was a young and beautiful girl and obviously adored her husband. They had been married to each other for a year and were blessed with a small baby. My respect for him multiplied ten times for having given this girl a family and support.

We became good friends. As my days of community support were almost coming to an end, David joined me one day at the guest house for a drink. We were discussing our future plans. He confided with me that he plans to leave this village back to US within six months. I was taken aback.

“What about Suru and the kid?” I asked

“What about her? It is a small side story in a project that has helped me get admission to Harvard” David quipped.

“Moreover the local support has contributed to my project a lot and Suru made stay here a lot more pleasurable”

I felt better; especially since I had started wondering about the cost-benefit of my project.

(After posting serious stuff for many weeks, this is an attempt again in storytelling. Any resemblance to living characters or incidences may be intentional.

This effort attempts multiple goals, like a piece of modern art.

At the basic level, is just a narration of a story adapted from something I heard, to see how I could handle the narration!.

Above this, it tries to make some observations on the motives of individuals, institutions and even nations in many of the community service initiatives.

On the one hand why should one bother at the underlying agenda if the benefits are tangible and otherwise un-available.

But sometimes don't these welfare initiatives lead to exploitation and get used for unfair discrimination. Some of the extreme views on child labour and environmental protection are examples of this.

I don’t intent to make any value judgement here; but just a reminder that the first impression may not always be the right expression of reality!)

Leading from the front...

I was in Kolkata last week and I was skimming through Times of India in the morning. The headline which said “Howrah walks past man struck by bus” caught my attention. I was shocked and horrified to read that a young man who got hit by a bus at the busy Howrah crossing was lying unattended for 20 hours pleading to the passersby to take him to a hospital.

Hundreds of people passed by, including many police men. Nobody was ready to extend a helping hand to Vishal. One Good Samaritan felt pity on him and moved him from the road to the pavement, gave him some water and biscuits and moved away. Even he did not dare to take him to the hospital as he “did not want trouble with the police”

Later when journalists reached the spot and started taking photographs, the police decided to act. Even then, they just dragged him away without even using a make shift stretcher.

This reminded me of what happened to one of my friends few years ago in New Delhi. He met with a bike accident in the night. He realised that his spine has been critically injured. When the Police came on sight, he pleaded with the police to be careful as his back was severally damaged. The police man took him and made him stand upright and as per the doctors who later treated him, one of the main reasons why he was paralysed waist downward was the load that was exerted on his back after the injury.

Later they moved him to Safdarjung hospital where also the medical attention was totally pathetic. He survived only because his parents reached hospital and moved him to better hospital.

The saga did not end. He had to have an immediate surgery on his spine to fix an artificial sleeve had to be implanted. His brother sent the required sleeve by courier. It took couple of days of Ping-Pong from desk to desk to get the stuff cleared from the Customs. Finally when they cleared the package from the customs and opened the box, it was empty. Then his father got a call from an unknown person asking for a decent sum of money for this to be returned. Finally his brother had to fly down with a new piece.

Why such apathy we see among the public servants? Is it that our public servants are not capable of good quality community service?

The answer is No.

What we need leaders who believe in public service. Occasionally we see islands of excellence. The initiative by JK Tripathi, Commissioner of Police at Trichi to improve the quality of community policing is an excellent example of what can be achieved by means of cooperation between government agencies and public at large. His efforts helped to reduce crime rate by 40% in two years after he took over. The city notorious for it communal violence became a paragon of communal cooperation.

The Surat initiatives by the Municipal Commissioner S R Rao in the aftermath of the plague outbreak in 1994, also shows that if we have leadership that cares achievements can be extraordinary. (A detailed discussion of bothe these case studies are available in “Making breakthrough innovation by Mr. Poros Munshi)

Ms Kiran Bedi’s achievement as Inspector General (Prisons) at Tihar Jail is even more stupendous.

All these go to show that with the right kind of leadership the so called apathetic, insensitive public servants can rise up to self sacrificing levels of service instead of self-serving levels.

The million Dollar question is how we can have more of such leaders (an retain them) in our legislature and bureaucracy. What the PM has done for UIDAI is a good example. He got an outstanding professional to head the prestigious UID project. The same idea can be taken to the next level.

How can we scale this up and ensure that outstanding professionals are placed in key functions on the basis of a better and more competitive selection process? (Some suggestions on this topic )

How do we motivate and encourage such leaders.

If half of what is explained in Kiren Bedi’s book “I Dare” about how the system is ‘enslaved’ is true, then the challenges in front of us appear to be gargantuan.

Does it mean we should just hope and pray for these ‘Messiahs’

Porus Mushi has articulated how each one of us can contribute. “All we need to do is to take what we have in hand and use it to make a delta change. Look around you. Every sign of progress you see anywhere has happened because some individual didn’t see himself as doing ‘just a job’. .... Every job contains within it the potential to change the civilization if it is reframed appropriately. ... What can you do to make a delta change today?”

Don’t let the king doze off....

Amadeus is a masterpiece movie based on the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which went on to bag eight Oscars. In this movie, Saliery is the court composer of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Mozart arrives at Vienna and Saliery got to observe the unbelievable talent of young Mozart which was almost like ‘god expressing himself’ through Mozart.

Saliery being an outstanding musician himself realised the true potential of Mozart. But he could not accept the fact that God chose an irreverent and lewd kid to deliver such heavenly music.

Mozart was on the go. He was bringing out master pieces one after the other and compared to the genius that he was, the other musicians of the time including Saliery looked pale and mediocre. Many could not stand this ignominy and were filled with jealousy. They were looking for ways to arrest the meteoric ascent of Mozart.

Mozart was once performing his latest compositions to an audience which included the king. It was a brilliant piece. Although the king always believed that he was a connoisseur of music and he was a mentor of music and musicians, he had no natural taste or ability to recognize novel innovations.

As the performance proceeded, the king nodded, sort of fell asleep. You should have seen the face of the fellow musicians. They mood changed from melancholy to ecstasy.

Why? The King was nodding off!

This means that there is no royal endorsement for the new masterpiece. The whisper campaign was on, in full swing. That was the beginning of the end for Mozart...

The moral of the story; don’t let the king fall asleep.

Why? If you are not yet a celebrity, you need endorsement because many people follow only what has been endorsed by the ‘knowledgeable’

I read about an experiment by Washington Post as a as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. They got Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world to play incognito some of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars at a metro station at Washington DC. In the few hours he played, nobody really bothered and he managed a collection of $ 32. Two days before his performance in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston and the seats averaged $100! (Watch the video)



The recognition, support and resource allocations are only for what the big boss appears to be interested in.

This happens to in both government and in corporate. The short cut to please the big man is what you learn in your nursery class

“Yes Sir, Yes Sir, Three Bags Full."

With such sycophancy among the courtesans you sure can't let the king doze off.

That was a cynical way of looking at the real world. There is no point in being cynical. The practical question is how do we use this phenomenon to work for you?

Get you Packaging and Endorsement right!

Then the next big challenge is to get the right endorsement from relevant people. Let them buy in your ideas and endorse it. For that you have to make it relevant for them. (For a survival kit, take a look at “Hitchhiker’s guide to corporate galaxy Part 1
and Part 2)

If you think that mere brilliance of your idea or product will get due acceptance, you are wrong.

The world we live in is a world of exploding options. So you need smart strategies to catch and retain attention. (Don’t forget that the underlying idea/ product will have to be good to avoid it turning out to be fad)

C’est la Vie!!

Nice stuff on emerging trends in mobile tech..

Mary Meeker Managing Director of Morgan Stanly made and interesting presentation at web 2.0 summit on emerging trends in Mobile, internet and the strides being made by iPhone.
Take a look at the presentation. Worth spending few minutes to see a perspective on how the world of communication is changing.

Mary Meeker 2009 Web 2.0 Summit Presentation

View more documents from ahawkinson.

Organisational Rigor Mortis

The foundation of this posting is an interesting story that has been circulating in the net. It gives wonderful insight into one of the major contributors of organisational decay.

The story is like this. In an experimental study in behaviour, four chimps were put in a large cage and a banana with a live-wire around was hung from the ceiling. If any chimp tried to pull out the banana it would get an electric shock. The chimps tried to touch the banana and realised the danger soon and eventually they learned to keep away from the banana.

Then the researchers stopped the electrical supply to the wire around the banana. Still none of the monkeys touched it. The researchers removed one chimp from the group and introduced a new one to the cage. When the new arrival tried to touch the banana the others stopped him from doing so. Eventually, one by one all the original four chimps who have experienced electrical shock were replaced with four chimps who have never experienced it. But still none touched the banana.

Why? Because “That is how the system works”

We see such rigidity around us very often. Organisations establish a number of processes and practices in certain context. Over a period of time, the context changes but the processes remain as in the Brazilian saying “the winning team doesn’t change”.

This, instead of supporting discipline, then encourages bureaucratic rituals and ‘clerks’ come to prominence instead of business leaders; sort of organisational rigor mortis.

New ideas don’t get support or encouragement and risk avoidance becomes the norm. Everything will have to be cleared by the legal department, which itself is not a bad idea. But often it degenerates to a stage where entrepreneurship and risk taking gets killed and mediocrity and CYA policies become the norm.

Innovations are not encouraged but maintenance becomes the key. People get fixed instead of problems getting fixed.

Employees with energy and enthusiasm get stifled and leave and paper-pushers tend to rule the roost. Splitting hair on provisions of staff rules gets more attention than the customer grievance.

Corporate bureaucracy "would be top on the list of sucking the life force out of [workers], making them feel helpless," says Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert cartoon strip. It contributes to the loss of "any sense of self-worth or initiative [employees] have and turns them into weasels," he says. [1]

Such inhibiting bureaucracy eventually could zap the vitality of the organisations and could lead to decay and death. The primary challenge for any leader would be how to prevent this decay.

It does not mean laissez faire cowboy style management. Systems and Procedures form the steel frame on which the organisation can sustain growth. However it is like having a barking dog as a guard dog at home. But if the dog falls in love with its own barking and start barking for the sake of barking, the dog ceases to have value as a guard dog.

And that is the balance we need to constantly strive for...

[1] How to bend the rules of corporate bureaucracy, Denise Kersten, USATODAY.com

Make Love Not War

Any society that consists of people who care only for their self interest is a society that is drifting towards chaos and disorder. It is almost natural for most societies to move in this direction. However, there are two factors that can moderate or control this natural degeneration. First is the extent to which balanced decisions are taken when there is a conflict between private agenda and social responsibility. The second factor is the extent to which affirmative actions are taken even when there is no individual benefit and/or there is individual cost.

I have always wondered what can motivate a utility maximising rational human being to socially responsible behaviour There are many theories that I have heard. What gave me an idea was the feeling that I saw in my daughter towards all animals.

I love animals too. Any cute dog or cat does stir up strong affection. The dogs I own also evoke similar feeling. But the stray in the street never induced any such feelings. But when I go out for a walk with my daughter any animal that we see on the road seems to evoke same affectionate response from her. However haggard, sick or full of wounds, bruises and putrefying sores the dog is, my daughter will point out to me “dad look at that dog, isn’t he cute?”

This used to be the case when she was a little child, and even now although she is a teenager. This is true love.

Love is one word people of all nationality, religion, cast, creed and even age know of. But very often the love that we practice is the love that is conditional or limited; conditional upon what you do for me or limited to my family, friends, cast or sect. This is the love that we often see and experience.

The love that will steer a man or woman towards selfless action is the love that is the pure, unlimited and unconditional love for every human being. It is “an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being”.

It is one of the guiding principles of almost all religions; an imploration to “love thy neighbour as yourself”

It is the only sentiment that can make you think again (at least once a while) when you throw litter out of your window, when you break all rules as you drive along, when you cheat on your tax with impunity, when you fan communal hatred through your actions and inactions, when you destroy public property, when you don’t do your bit to reduce pollution and atmospheric degradation, when you support arms race and when you implement policies that short-shift your customers and so on and so forth.

That is why “Make Love Not War” is truly a timeless slogan.

Don’t let that feeling die.Spend a little bit of time teaching this to your little children.

Now close your eyes and listen to “Make Love Not War” by John Lennon

A Moral Dilemma

One of my friends recently forwarded to me an interesting mail, which in a striking fashion highlighted the conflicts we face when we make decisions that involve other people. I have made it the anchor of this post.

The story is as follows. A group of children was playing near a two line railway tracks; one still in use while the other not used. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make...

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way, I guess. To save most of the children at the expense of only one child is the rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child who chose to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around us every day. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society where the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away when they heard the train's siren. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

We face such situations very often in our life. The options may not be as striking as in the above story; but could be as conflicting.

Last week my wife was walking out of her office and at the junction there was an assembly of people waiting to listen to a political leader. There were many chairs kept at the side of the road. The speaker of the day welcomed all those who were walking along and requested them to take the chairs, place them on the road and sit down comfortably. He pointed out that even if it blocked the road, it was OK or rather better as it demonstrated his party’s strength.

Such behaviour with little regard to the society at large has become an acceptable practice today. These are social dilemmas that have no technical solution other than the value system that generally drives a significant majority. Building mechanisms that enables social audits and transparency in public administration would go a long way in supporting this.

However to build and sustain such a society we need to build healthy values right from childhood. Our education system will have to incorporate such value education a more important component of the syllabus. In addition to making this a part of the syllabus we also will have to develop imaginative ways of inculcating this in the young minds. But then that is the challenge our education system faces in all streams of education and which needs our top attention

Ramblings on User Interfaces

I recently read an interesting fact about the way men’s loo has been designed in Schiphol airport, Amsterdam. The authorities etched image of a black housefly in to each urinal. The staff of Kieboom, the economist who directs Schipol’s building expansion, found out that these etchings of fly-in-the-urinals improved the aim and reduced ‘spillage’ by 80%.

In the modern wired world, we are now increasingly moving towards ‘self service’ in banks, in buying tickets, and to file tax returns. Even in such online machine based services, there is a need to be conscious about user interface. We see some online sites which have understood the normal human habits of observation, conscious and unconscious behaviours and are very intuitive for the user. The user is able to sail through the steps in a jiffy.

Very often the techies who design the systems get carried away by the functionalities and forget the user experience. At best (with or without the help of some creative types) they fill the interface pages with some wild graphics and gadgets which instead of guiding the users distracts them. They often consider the effort needed to understand the user a pain in the wrong place.

I think one of the key contributors of the wide following of Facebook in comparison with many other social networking sites is such an intuitive experience for the user. I am sure most of us will agree that the iPod and iPhone are outstanding examples how devices designed with user experience in mind often turn out to be winners.

But if we spend time and effort to really analyze the service being offered, the nature and expectation of the various users who visit the site or even the service counters we can identify very many ways to help the user and in turn get more out of the infrastructure we have created. This may even help us to reduce our service cost.

This becomes even more important if we are servicing mostly one time users or occasional users. In such cases we really have to spend time to anticipate the confusion that comes to the user’s mind. In such cases we should have a continuous process of taking feedback from a large cross section of users to refine our offering.

We need to remind ourselves that the primary purpose of the user interface is to make the user experience a pleasure and not to prove how bright the developers are.

Let us take a look at another important dimension to designing of user interfaces. Smart user interfaces can also act as a mechanism to influence client choice, especially the default options provided. This provides an opportunity as well as a moral responsibility to the designers of the interface. Some obvious example that comes to mind is the legal requirement that the acceptance button in the user agreement for by default should not be on “I Accept”.

We don’t need legal directions to act responsible. We have to take care that the default options we provide are not detrimental for the ‘absent minded’ user. In some of the developed societies legal boundaries have been defined to a good degree. With the rapid growth in online self service counters here in India we it is high time we give attention these 'human factors'.

Tightening the belt is not very comfortable...

The worldwide economic recession (or slowdown) primarily caused by failures in the financial markets during last year had its impact on Indian Economy too. To top it, we are experiencing drought in many parts of the country this year.

In view of the difficult times we are in, Government of India (GOI) has announced a variety of austerity measures. These include cost-cutting measures like abstinence from club class air travel, abstinence from five star jamborees and an unambiguous directive to reduce all wasteful expenditure. Following this example many ministers from central and state governments have also announced many more such measurers for cutting cost.

The spirit behind this symbolism is truly laudable. The people who spend public money should find ways to reduce fritter; at least during the time of downturn. Of course there is a value for symbolism in public life. But all the journals, newspapers and the blogosphere that I read do not appear to be excited about this symbolism. May be what I read does not represent the sentiments of the majority of the Indian Society; but reflects the pseudo sophistication of the educated urban middle class.

The sacrifices of those in power may evoke a sense of reverence which has its own advantage. It may touch a cord in the minds of the hero worshiping sentiments of a large cross section of Indian Society. The people who have learned to fathom this rustic mindset may see a benefit in this symbolism.

I am not complaining about this wooing without which it is difficult to come to political power; especially since the a significant prroporation of the middle class has anyway stayed away from their responsibility to vote.

But I can’t help raising a few questions on how this austerity measures work.

Are the benefits of this austerity quantified? If so how?

If there is truly a saving, what is done with this saving? Does it contribute to the increase in allocation to any development schemes? Or does it help to ameliorate the pain of some of those affected people? Or does it reduce the budget deficit?

Are these measures sustainable?

Who is accountable for results?

When a VVIPs takes alternate modes of transport like train and bus, does it really reduce cost or does the cost associated with additional security and disruption to common man’s daily life more than offset the same? Like late Sarojini Naidu noted ‘it costs a lot to keep this man in poverty’.

Will the implementing authority let the true spirit of cost reduction survive or let it suffocate in the technical gobbledygook? A classic example of this is the clarifications raised by the various departments including Rajya Sabha Secretariat and MOF on one of the austerity measures requiring the officers not to use the loyalty points for their private use. Print media has reported clarifications raised by many officers on the impracticability of crediting the loyalty points of the frequent flying officers to government account. If it was meant to be implemented, the guidelines could have simply asked the officers to use the available loyalty points to purchase the next ticket for his official trip. Such obvious answers don’t appear to be present in the extensive volleys of clarifications flying around. (Just Google for “Austerity, India” you will be entertained.)

We see such symbolism in corporate lives too. The corporate chieftains often come out with flavours of the season like TQM, ISO, Business Score Card, Six Sigma and so on and so forth. Although each of these can be a meaningful initiative, often these end up being fads which fail to rally the organisation.

The reasons are obvious. Firstly many of these cost cutting measures are irritants and there are strong incentives to revert at the very first opportunity. Secondly, it does not evoke conviction about its sustainability. Tightening belts can at best be a short term option whether it is to stave off hunger or to make the waistline smaller and it is often very uncomfortable.

In my opinion instead of such cost cuts (which will often creep back once it is not on the radar) genuine efforts of cost saving by better processes, sensible automation, avoidance of delays in project execution and strategic outsourcing could provide long lasting benefits.

It may even be worth to assign responsibly to a senior officer to actually work on projects that can save cost on a long term basis which get him honour and recognition instead of the plain vanilla cost cuts which often get flouted.

To be or not To be – Part 3 – Lasting Relationships

I once watched a gory movie on TV. I don’t remember the title; but the storyline has stayed on in my mind. This is the story of two young ladies who have graduated from a uniquely grotesque training school that trained an elite force of mercenaries.

In this movie, the people who ran the school, first kidnapped, from around the world, about 100 beautiful and brilliant girls about 12 years old and brought them to an island. The kids were first let out into an open field and explained that they were no more normal children and were expected to behave as the master says. The kids were scared and shocked. Some of them tried to run out of the compound. As they reached the gate there was a volley of bullets that ripped the girls who thought they were getting away. The realization dawned onto those who survived that they were in a crazy place.

Over the days they are put through one of the most rigorous and cruel training program in which failure to qualify each level meant failure to survive. Of the hundred odd they started with, around 25 survived the various challenges and was now an elite force of trained commandos capable of using a variety of weapons and handling any situations. One day they were all called for the final evaluation. The rules of the final round were such that only one among them was expected to survive.

Although there were many good friendships and teams that had evolved among the students, the final exam broke all these relationships, except a pair who decided that they will stick together, no matter what happened. The trust that each of them had developed among them helped them to play as a team and survive till the end and this strength was one of the key factors that ensured their survival. I am sure you can imagine how difficult it would be to hold the faith. Although the trainers planned only for one final graduate, they realised the potential of this pair and let them graduate jointly.

This story reminded me of a few lessons. The corporate world is often like this training school. The fights may not be as physically gory, but emotionally they could be as demanding and as mean. In this musical chair of life, at every level a few chairs are removed and each of us is left to fight for survival. In this path, the strength of each of our relationship will be tested at some time or other.

How many of us have developed a few friendships along the way on which we can trust, whatever happens. If we have not, do it; it definitely would help you to survive daily travails around us.

On the other hand, we need to ask whether we make the environment in our organisations conducive to building collaborative teams, or do we encourage cutthroat competition that makes each person to look for only his own selfish interest.

I agree certain competitiveness is good and will act as a stimulant. But it should not drive each person to be extremely self-serving; but should help to build collaborative teams. If we are not alive to this and work on this specifically, we will have a group whose priority is self interest and not organisational interest.

Finding a balance of healthy competition that stimulates a passion for excellence at the same time encourages collaborative teams is the challenge for each leader today.

To build teams that scale, this balance is a key ingredient

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Corporate Galaxy – Part 2 The Survival Kit

In the first part of this article we looked into the challenges we face in getting things done with co-operation from others; especially when we have limited control and influence on these people

Now let us take a look at some of the strategies, on how to face these challenges.

1. Share the credit

If you expect cooperation, be willing to share credit and recognition as well. Even if your collaborator wants to hog the credit for some part of your project, let him have it. In the end if you are the one who nursed the project day in and day out, due credit eventually will come to you.

May be sometimes you need to massage a bit of ego too. I read an observation made by one of the most successful business men in India about a certain species with whom this strategy works wonders; a species whose support is very critical for most projects.

2. Don’t go in for a kill

It is advisable to follow an outflanking strategy as much as possible instead of directly going in for a kill. Such aggressive acts could spawn a hate club waiting for your weak moment which in the real world may come faster than you may think.

Therefore as far as possible avoid hitting against the wall ahead; try to go around it or above it. This may also lead your opponent to underestimate you which may bring down his defences.

3. Show you strength

Be willing to flex your muscles (not literally) when needed. Do it subtly and discreetly. Very often you will get better cooperation if the opponent perceives that you are strong.

When you should take the sword out have a blood bath. (You can get a better exposition of this idea in Machiavelli’s “Prince” and a good practical implementation in Mario Puzo’s “Godfather”)

4. But don’t be a Don Quixote

Don’t go around showing off your strength and bragging about it. Don’t overuse it either and don’t get provoked by every obstacle. It is not worth wasting a lot of time fighting unnecessary battles.

5. Be Magnanimous in Victory

When you finally win, especially after a struggle, don’t rub it in. Be discreet, else you end up adding fuel to the fire in the heart of that guy who has already lost.

6. Be a guest

When you have to walk into somebody else turf, keep the intrusion as minimal and as non-threatening as possible. Make him feel that you are a guest rather than an usurper. (I agree there are times when you have to takeover, then make it an act of assertion and not of aggression)

7. It is better to be a mystery

Be a mystery. Mystery is often respected. There are times when you have to keep you opponents guessing on how many aces you have up your sleeve.

8. United we are strong

A network of friends can be your strength; especially if they share similar interests. If they are powerful all the better:-)

9. Collect Gold Stamps

Whenever you can, extend a helping hand; it will surely get you some gold stamps that may come in handy. In corporate galaxy it is a universal currency.

10. Learn to play chess

As in chess, there are rules that you have to follow and you need smart strategies to stalemate your opponent not a gun to shoot.

11. Keep your cool

If you lose your cool then you lose your ability to make a good judgement. If you do it often, it loses whatever effect it may have. Sometimes your opponents may consciously use this to unsettle you.

12. Political Power of Boss

Political power of (clout) your boss is a great help to move some butt. But don’t run up to you boss crying ‘Pappa” every time you face an obstruction. It will not buy you respect and he will see you as a ‘high maintenance asset (or liability)”

But once a while you should go to him and ask for help. And then thank him for the help! (If you are smart you will exercise this option in situation where he can make a significant difference).

13. Do some P R

You need to blow your trumpet once in a while. Only then people will notice that you are good. There are some people who ignore this. They expect to be recognised just because they are good. If you are not yet a celebrity you may not get noticed amidst all the ambient cacophony unless you work towards it.

14. Don’t open too many fronts at a time

Sometime those who want to derail your project may offer so many digressions into which you may get drawn in. Sometime your detractors may try to dilute your ideas along the way. You need to keep your ideas simple and focused. This will also help to avoid unnecessary turf issues.

When you are in a battle, don’t open too many fronts at a time. It will only waste a lot of energy.

15. Manage your collaborators

In large projects specially that impact a large cross section of the society, it is important to interact with a variety of people to get ideas, support and feedback. Very often they may not be people who are not directly associated with these projects.

Make sure that you acknowledge each contribution. There are times when you may not be able to use/ adopt some ideas. You still acknowledge them and explain why you are not using these ideas (Unless these are too frivolous). If you don’t do that many would stop giving you ideas. It may sound stupid; but very often human sensitivities work like this.

16. Have Fun

At the end of it, you should enjoy the challenge and the journey. Each setback should be seen as a new challenge and don’t start fretting about it.

Tailpiece: This is not a ready to use algorithm but a toolset for survival. . It is nothing new either; just age old wisdom, many of which are familiar to you already. It is up to you to decide which tool(s) to use under each circumstance. A good cricket bat will not make you Sachin Tandoolker.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Corporate Galaxy – Part 1

Whether we are managers by profession or not very often we have to get things done by or with the help and cooperation of others. Sometimes it is by the people on whom we have some control and authority (like our children or subordinate officers) but most it is from people on whom we enjoy no such influence. It could be colleagues in other departments, people of other organisations or members of your club, the religious community you belong to or government officers with whom you have working relationships.

Getting cooperation in such situations is a tougher challenge. Although your control and authority increase with your ascent in the career ladder, this challenge also increases as the people who are critical to your success are often not the people on whom you have direct control. Likewise, this challenge intensifies with increase in the stakes of the project you are involved in and the diversity of the stake holders.

Management of this challenge is an art form which may not be taught in a Business School, and often your success is a function of how well you have mastered this art form; especially if the project under consideration has significant social relevance and requires cooperation from a broad cross section of people. In fact for success in politics and business, this skill is an absolute necessity.

To be successful it is important to develop a knack to identify the factors contributing this challenge. In this article I have tried to list few major factors to trigger our thoughts and to compile a survival kit.

1. Turf

Your project may be perceived to be an intrusion into the other person’s turf. Human beings, like their favourite pet, the dog, are very possessive of their turf to the extent of being identified with it.

2. Not Invented Here

Even if your project / idea could make a positive difference in somebody else’s turf, there could be often resistance because it is not ‘his idea/ baby’. Very often people find it difficult to be proud of somebody else’s baby.

3. Competition

Sometime success of your project could place you or perceive to place you in a position of comparative advantage or faster trajectory.

Then instead of trying to outperform you, many people will try to downplay/ disparage you. This is supposed to be a serious issue in Indian culture and is often referred as “Indian Crab Syndrome”

4. Ego

Many people may have very strong egos; especially people in position of power. With the feudalistic culture we come from and the “Raja Culture” often observed among people in power (irrespective of private or public sector), if your project requires cooperation from the self proclaimed kings you have a serious challenge.

5. Corruption

This could be for money, power or credit. But if the people whom you are dealing with are interested in having his pound of flesh, he will find ways to extract the same and if you are not willing to give into this demand, most often you will be stymied.

6. Survival threat

Sometimes success of your project could be a direct threat to the other person’s areas of interest or in worst case survival. Then you can expect a serious resistance, which is justified, at least from his point of view. The more disruptive / transformational your idea, the stronger and wider will be the spectrum of resistance.

7. Sheer Folly

Sometime you may be unlucky to have a moron or somebody for whom rigor mortis of brain has already set-in, and this can happen at all levels. He could be a young and immature kid or a senior person who, as Parkinson would point out, has risen up to his level of incompetence. This happens more often in organisations where there is little compulsion for performance and growth is dependent on connections than on merit.

8. Hidden Agenda

Hidden agendas at industry/ firm/ individual/ regulator level could also be at work against your project. These are more difficult to track as it is hidden behind a veil of apparent co-operation or hidden in the garb of protection of the weak.

9. Closed Mind

If you are working on a disruptive idea that changes the rules of the game and you are pitted against a closed mind, you are in serious problem. The closed mind is often seen among successful people and people in power. Some of them may develop a mindset wherein they think they are the ultimate authority in everything under the sun. Their ‘openness’ to ideas gets limited to throwing some new fad at you without thinking through.

We will discuss the survival strategies in my next posting.

Digital Security – Business, People and Economics

We live in a digital world. The extent to which our lives are exposed to this ‘digitization’ is increasing exponentially. Whether we like it or not and whether we are involved in information technology related activities or not, our lives are getting more and more dependent on ‘digits’. Health records, tax records, saving and investment records, records of buying habits; practically everything that affects our life including how we are governed are getting digital.

With the way our lives are increasingly getting dependent upon information systems, the Internet being one of the most prominent examples, there is a growing concern about the security and reliability of this fragile infrastructure.[1]

In this digital world whatever business we are in, we cannot afford to ignore the impact of information security. To begin with, computer security has been left in the hands of “computer security experts,” chiefly technologists whose technical understanding qualified them to shoulder the responsibility of keeping computers and their valuable information safe. With stand alone computers the key security issues were how to protect the data from being lost or corrupt or stolen. [1]

But today information security is not just a technological problem although technology forms an important component. For business this is like any other problem of managing of risk and the cost associated with it. Like in any domain, the security experts can find a solution to address most of the risks (except those of cosmic proportions like Tsunami or Starburst) that a person or organization face. It is a question of the resources that you can throw behind the security risk and the extent of abstinence/ isolation that you are willing to suffer. Thus it becomes more of a managerial issue of identifying the risk areas, its probabilities, its impact and cost –benefit ratio of mitigation.

Organizations optimize themselves to minimize their risk, and understanding those motivations is key to understanding computer security today. However each of the above elements of risk management is not amenable to straight forward computations. It has high dependence of the human idiosyncrasies, mental make-up, domain knowledge etc

So when we look at information security management we have to use a larger framework; a framework that takes in to account business compulsions, nature of people and economics of incentives.

The span of managerial response ranges from apathy resulting from ignorance or indifference to paranoia resulting from ignorance or spinelessness. This posting covers a broad survey of the above spectrum to provoke some thoughts. I don’t expect this in any way to be prescriptive or comprehensive.

On one end some business managers are unable to understand the risk in the right perspective. Risk triggers in the nature of “fight or flight’ is an elementary component of any living organism. But many of the risks that modern man is exposed do not require such response. This means that there’s an evolutionary advantage to being able to hold off the reflexive fight-or-flight response while you work out a more sophisticated analysis of the situation and your options for dealing with it. Human beings have a completely different pathway to deal with analyzing risk called neo-cortex, a more advanced part of the brain that developed very recently and appears only in mammals. It is intelligent and analytic. It can reason. It can make more nuanced trade-offs. It’s also much slower. But it’s hard for the neo-cortex to contradict the primary response from the amygdale.[2]

Psychologist Daniel Gilbert has made brilliant explanation on this conflict “The brain is a beautifully engineered get-out-of-the-way machine that constantly scans the environment for things out of whose way it should right now get. That’s what brains did for several hundred million years—and then, just a few million years ago, the mammalian brain learned a new trick: to predict the timing and location of dangers before they actually happened.

Our ability to duck that which is not yet coming is one of the brain’s most stunning innovations, and we wouldn’t have dental floss or 401(k) plans without it. But this innovation is in the early stages of development. The application that allows us to respond to visible baseballs is ancient and reliable, but the add-on utility that allows us to respond to threats that loom in an unseen future is still in beta testing.”

The above gets compounded by what the psychologists term the ‘optimism bias’; we often think that accidents happened to only the other fellow and end up taking extreme risks. [2] Therefore unless the manager consciously tries to hold on to the primitive response and analyze the risk, the responses may often be not optimum.

This situation gets compounded when it comes to information security and software products. Most business managers are used to the incentive structure in the production of physical goods. If Honda produces a car with a systemic flaw they are liable, but Microsoft can produce an operating system with multiple systemic flaws per week and not be liable. Software companies have been able to institute a framework denying them liability for faulty products. [3]

Many business managers don’t appreciate this different paradigm in the digital world when they take decisions with respect to information security. With most of the corporate assets increasingly getting to be digital this becomes a critical issue.
We also see behavior on the other end of the spectrum. The security engineering community has, like the environmental science community, built-in incentives to overstate the problem. This could be like a firewall vendor struggling to meet quarterly sales targets, or a professor trying to mine the `cyber-terrorism' industry for grants, or the information security division lobbying for more funds and more power.

I still remember some of the overselling that used to happen during the Y2K compliance. Our consultant wanted certificates from practically all vendors, who provided any electronic good, to give us certificate that his product is Y2K compliant.

The business manager gets totally taken in by the scaremongers of digital fraud. In the name of information security he ends up overspending on every latest gadget and every vocal consultant. Human mind has a tendency to react to recent events and events that are high on visibility. With the extent of sound bites that we are exposed on information security we naturally end up overreacting. I still remember our Government grounding the total A 320 fleet of aircraft of Indian Airlines for a long time after the accident in Bangaluru.

What we need to develop is a balance between these two extremes. As Andrew Odlyzko noted in a paper titled Economics, Psychology, and Sociology of Security, “The natural resilience of human society suggests yet again the natural analogies between biological defense systems and technological ones. An immune system does not provide absolute protection in the face of constantly evolving adversaries, but it provides adequate defense most of the time. In a society composed of people who are unsuited to formally secure systems, the best we can hope to do is to provide “speed bumps” that will reduce the threat of cyber attacks to that we face from more traditional sources.” [4]

In a digital world the balanced view has to be continuously re-balanced as the rate of change of environment is extremely quick paced, unlike in case of the conventional technology areas. You get hardly any time to relax with the comfort of equilibrium that you seem to have managed.

Summary

The key thoughts from the above discussion can be summarized as below:
1. Information security is not just about technology it is about the managerial choice that is exercised
2. Whether gadget or process, it should justify the merit. The idea is not to foolproof, but to identify the appropriate balance.
3. Managing of this risk should be an inherent part of the total organizational process and not the functional responsibility of an expert group
4. It is not a one-time activity or a periodic activity. It is a continuous game of ‘cops and robbers’.
5. Keep in mind that security should not and need not always compromise convenience if it has to, make it as bearable as far as possible.

References

1. Kevein J Soo Hoo, How Much Is Enough? A Risk Management Approach to Computer Security
2. Bruce Schneier,The Psychology of Security , January 21, 2008
3. William Yurcik and David Doss, Illinois State University Department of Applied Computer Science “CyberInsurance: A Market Solution to the Internet Security Market Failure”,
4. Andrew Odlyzko, Economics, Psychology, and Sociology of Security
5. Ross Anderson and Taylor Moore, Information security Economics – and Beyond
6. Ross Anderson, Why Information Security is Hard – an Economic Perspective
The above references include specific references of observations as well as the articles that have provided ideas for my talk.
This is extracted from the talk I delivered at the conference held at IIMA