A blog on my views on management and leadership.
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It's all about money, honey!!
A very interesting event is on these days. Professors of India’s elite institutes IITs and IIMs are protesting in unique ways like day long fasting to protest what they are calling an injury to their autonomy of recruiting good teachers and pay scales. I think this is a farce. This is just a way to arm twist the HRD ministry to increase their salaries. I have nothing against the IITs, IIMs. In fact, I have had the opportunity to study in one of them. But, what make those institutes great are its students and not so much its faculty. If you gather together some of the best academic brains in the country in one place, you don’t really need excellent teachers to produce great results. In fact, excluding very few of the faculty most others are of very ordinary standard. But then again, that’s true of every university, college in the country. That is one of the main reasons why we have not seen any great research work come out of the IIT/IIM system. Whatever good comes out the institutes is courtesy the efforts of the students.
Their contention is that they are not hankering after money and that they should be differentiated from others of their ilk because they are a superior breed. It would be very easy to call their bluff. The HRD ministry should ask them publicly that they would be positively differentiated and their salary would be more than their peers in the university system by one rupee. If this hankering is not for money, the teachers should accept that and continue with their work. But, if, as everyone suspects, it is about money, then their lie will be caught!!
The markets tanked and then recovered in 2009. And what a recovery it was. Stocks have gone up 3,4 times in the last 6 months. Not the frontliners but some of the midcaps. The frontliners are just about back to where they fell from in Jan 2008. So, in a span of 2 years people who have stayed invested in the market are back to even. Those who had the guts to buy when there was mayhem around have actually made stupendous returns. But actually most retail investors have lost money. They came to the party late and left early, trying desperately to recuperate some of their losses! The lessons from all this are: 1. Ignore the market. Focus on the businesses. 2. Buy when there is blood on the street (old jungle saying!!). 3. Sell when everyone and their uncles are buying (remember Reliance Power IPO?) 4. The money is made while buying, so make sure even if you get an average deal while selling, you still make money. 5. Over the long term, trading makes only one person rich - your broker!!
Ever felt swamped with work and not know how to get all your ToDo's done? Well, I have. Plenty of times. Ever wonder how some people seem to get so much on their plates and yet get so much done? The trick they use is the art of delegation . Here are some of the tips I have learnt from some of those who possess Ninja-like abilities to delegate. Step 1: Find the right person for the job - Think about who in your team would be the best fit for the work-at-hand. Don't "dump" your work on the person person you see. If it is grunt-work which no one likes to do, then rotate it amongst the team (and don't forget your turn!) Step 2: Explain "why" he is the right person to do the work and what he stands to gain - If you do step 1 well, you should be able to explain why you have chosen the person and what he stands to gain from the experience. I have learnt a lot from my managers who have delegated work to me. It has given me a glimpse into areas of work t...
I keep a list of things that I like doing. At the beginning of every week, I make sure I put atleast one thing from that list into my calendar. Some of the things I have on that list are: reading detective novels (preferably Agatha Christie!!), watching a detective or thriller movie, playing tennis, watching tennis!!, speaking to close friends (the good old adda ), having a cup of self-made darjeeling tea, reading investment books and reports, playing with my son, reading him stories listening to songs from Kishore Kumar the list goes on... It is important to do things that you love frequently. It refreshes and recharges you.
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