Who Says Elephants Can't Dance

http://tinyurl.com/reviewIBMRevived
IBM Revived
How did Louis managed make IBM dance

The Book is : Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? - Louis V. Gerstner

Summary:

A book on IBM's historic turnaround. How Louis led this historic revival is what this book is all about. For ages IBM has been evolved into an IT behemoth, which the author Louis has pen named it as an ELEPHANT. It tells each ad everything what should be done with some don’ts too. Also he gives some management mantras which may be learned, understood and followed.

Detailed:

Say you have a habit of watching morning news. Imagine, one fine day, you wake up and switch ON the Television, to your surprise you get to see a BREAKING NEWS. The news is about TATA declaring bankruptcy. Not only for you but for the whole population of India, it will be shocking news. You will wonder, what unavoidable/uncontrollable circumstances might have occurred which led the company to these decision. Here comes the role of turning around a company from it entering to the so called "Grave". Also imagine what it would take to revive a company like TATA.

One of the biggest disadvantages in turnaround "The Making" is lots and lots of people have to give sacrifice. The direct effect of this sacrifice is reducing the number of employee. This is because to cut costs, which is the best way to start reviving a company, first step is always reduce the employee strength. Cost cutting is needed, because it’s impossible to make profits. Now this is not only because of these low - level employees. Always organization is a group effort. But to be precise it is the management failure that consumes the major chunk for the company failure. Still the employee cut outs are faced by lower level employees. This is just to reduce the number, not on the basis of talent. We can say this is a sacrifice by the people. This is what hurts me more, isn't there any way to avoid such kind of lay offs.'

See a book, is a book. It is men’s best friend. Reading a book always add to our knowledge. If not it at least improves our Language competency. So according to me the intended audience for the book is anybody. But if you really ask me, there are two category of audience

1 - People who had spent some amount of time in the industry, and have reached the top management positions

2 - People who are IT freaks, wannabe MBAs, for them it is quite an inspirational and motivational book.

For every organization, there comes a time for struggle. But what differentiates IBM is the level and the size of the company. People often think how such companies with great people are unable to survive. But when the company is this large, you sitting at the top do not even see the half of its structure. Here comes the role of good people. The main job of a CEO, which is very much analogous to a LEADER, is to hold all the people tightly.

Once we set a goal for the company, always we should set our vision/ vision statement first. Once the vision is decided, this ideology should be percolated in the entire company. People should work as if they are the only one, OR, say that they are running their own business. One should not forget, "SEA is made up of DROPS". But for all these the leader should him/herself implement the ideology. Management is all about managing people, as it is rightly said by APJ Abdul Kalam (current president of INDIA).

This book is nothing but a story of IBM redux. But the way it is written down is excellent. It is not written as a story. But it is written as it would be a case study or a text book for a subject. Lou being having a great corporate experience was the best candidate for the job, and he uncertainly fulfilled everybody's expectation.

The chapters are very well categorized and named under PARTS. Here he after summing up, precisely, the revival of IBM, without much detail, tells what lessons he himself have learned. Also described is what observations he have concluded from his journey, which is the best part of the book. Because we need not have to derive anything from the book, the author himself has given the points. This book proves that it’s the industry experience that matters more, than the technical know how. Also management is the life of a company. Lou was not at all from IT background, yet he succeeded.

The book is being carved up into 5 Parts:

First part GRABBING HOLD contains 11 chapters. It basically tells his initial time at IBM. How did he manage himself in a technology company? How did he understood the basic of business for this vertical? How did he make all those decisions?

Second is STRATEGY. It has 8 chapters. He starts with giving a brief introduction for IBM. He tells how he changed the focus of IBM to services. Who all helped him to take this drastic change? Since software industry has already become huge in size, and IBM being the major contributor, its tough at times to change people's state of mind.

Third is CULTURE. It has total of 3 chapters. I think this is the most important part of all. It is the culture that plays a stellar role. We always distinguish among people on their culture. We like to be with people of better and rich cultural background. Same thing goes for an organization. It is the culture, the vision that makes up a company. Also Lou suggests that the cultural development should be Inside-Out. Here inside-out means the nourishment of culture should not only be influenced from past internal experience, but also from past external change.

Fourth part deals with LESSONS that Gurstner learned during his term of office. It has 4 chapters. Here I can bet that the lessons learned can be applied in a broader perspective for any industry. It is just the personal touch and experience that differs. If only you can decipher that, all people learn the same lessons again and again, even if they try to utilize someone else's experience. The main core reflects only one thing; we should not stick to same policies to run a business. The policies decided should be highly adaptive according to the marketable changes.

Last but not the least, it discusses about OBSERVATIONS about the industry. The industry, the system, the watchers etc...


Lou's work experience before IBM in that order:
McKinsey and Company: 9 years
American Express: 11 years
RJR Nabisco: 4 years
IBM

Some Excerpts:

01. People do what you inspect, not what you expect.
02. Getting it done, getting it done right, getting it done better than the next person is far more important than dreaming up new visions of the future.
03. If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.
04. In short, business with high-performance cultures are winners and no person of substance would work an.

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Bajaj Pulsar Ads

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Best bike and dtsi


Bajaj Pulsar is a motorcycle brand owned by Bajaj Auto in India. The two wheeler was developed by the product engineering division of Bajaj Auto in association with famous Japanese design house Tokyo R&D

DTSi stands for Digital Twin Spark Ignition, a Bajaj Auto trademark. The DTSi idea is a simple one to understand - it involved usage of two spark plugs (instead of the usual choice of one) per engine cylinder.

Bajaj Auto holds an Indian patent for the DTSi technology. The Alfa Romeo Twin-Spark engines, the BMW F650 Funduro which was sold in India from 1995 to 1997 also had a twin-spark plug technology, and the Rotax motorcycle engines,more recently Honda's iDSI Vehicle engines use a similar arrangement of two spark-plugs. However very few small capacity engines did eventually implement such a scheme in their production prototypes. This may be the case because the idea was perhaps not observed to yield any significant or noticeable performance benefit that could be justified against the additional investment of an extra spark plug. This may well be the reason behind very few Indian motorcycles offering products based

While Bajaj claims that the Pulsar is a complete in house product, it should also be known that they had learnt a considerable know-how of building motorcycles from their erstwhile technology partner Kawasaki. Take for instance the original Kawasaki-Bajaj Eliminator, (now sold as the Bajaj Avenger) that had a different engine design than that of the current 180/200 cc Avenger series.

History

Before the introduction of the Pulsar, the Indian motorcycle market trend was towards fuel efficient, small capacity motorcycles (that formed the 80-125 cc class). Bigger motorcycles with higher capacity virtually did not exist (except for Enfield Bullet). The launch and success of Hero Honda CBZ in 1999 showed that there was demand for performance bikes. Bajaj took the cue from there on and launched the Pulsar twins in India on November 24, 2001. Since the introduction and success of Hero Honda CBZ, the Indian youth began expecting high power and other features from affordable motorcycles.

The project was faced with internal resistance, reservations by Mckinsey and doubts on its effects on Bajaj's relation with Kawasaki. The project required approximately 36 months for completion and cost Bajaj Rs 1 billion

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Casino Royale

http://tinyurl.com/review007orMI
007 or MI
A review for Casino Royale

The Movie is : Casino Royale

007 or MI (Mission Impossible)!!! Really, this was the first thought after watching the movie. At times, I felt that I just saw some part of the MI series without Tom cruise but of course Daniel Craig.

Well 007 have always been and it certainly is associated with intelligence, class and gadgets. But here, we hardly saw any of those prominently.

Moving deeper in, it was more of a stunt film. Probably even on the lines of Charlie’s Angels. Normally the personality of 007 does not allow him to fight and perform stunt, as specifically as much as in this part. The film though started with a SUPERB stunt sequence, but it was quit exaggerated for a character like bond.

We have seen, James Bond as a Spy or detective or a secret agent. But here it just became a rescue agent, as clichéd the "THE EARTH SAVER". 007 is always personified as a sleek, full of smartness and intelligence and smooth. Probably this is how IAN FLEMMING has created it. These qualities should be in physical and mental front.

The next point is there were no gadgets in the film. It was really shocking; I was languishing for it in the whole movie. How is it possible that we have 007 without those fantastic, may be abstract, gadgets? Even the Beast Machine, our very own, ASTON Martin’s utilization was not up to mark. Instead of showing its multi gizmotic presence, it was used again only for a rollover stunt. I was pretty much disappointed. Even the Omega was not spared. The life saver of Bond, his watch, had no presence. Being high tech, these gadgets are also his Style Statement. 007 is incomplete without their use.

But I should appreciate the stunts. They were fantabulous. The first chasing sequence was awesome. Moving to the Daniel, he has an excellent voice. His dialogue delivery is superb. His personality i.e. MACHO ness over Pierce's Sleekness was apprized. The Cinematography was first class. The dialogues were nice too.

Seeing as a complete package, I would rate two and a half. Also the movie proceeds a bit slower towards the end. But it is surely a ONE TIME WATCH. Thats it guys.

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The Last Hours of Mahatma Gandhi - Part 02

...............

This is superb, i still dont remember from where did i get this

Continued from part 01

The usual daily round of interviews began at about 2.15 pm. Representatives from all of India - and beyond - sought an audience. Two Punjabis spoke about the Harijans of their province. Two Sindhis followed. A representative of Ceylon accompanied by his daughter asked Gandhi to give a message for Ceylon's independence day on February 14. The girl obtained Gandhi's autograph, the last he was to give. At about 3pm a professor who called in told Gandhi that what he was preaching had been advocated in Buddha's time. At about 3.15 a French photographer presented him with an album of his photographs. He met a Punjabi delegation, and a Sikh delegation who asked him to suggest a president for a conference to be held in Delhi on February 15. Gandhi suggested Congress president Rajendra Prasad, and added he would give a message himself.

Gandhi finished the last interview by 4pm, when the Sardar was due to arrive. Gandhi rose from his sitting place and walked towards the bathroom. He asked Brij Krishna to arrange his railway journey to Wardha for the very next day, Saturday.

Gandhi was still in the bathroom when Patel and his daughter and secretary Mani arrived. Patel and Brij Krishna chatted for a few minutes. When Gandhi emerged he and Patel immediately fell into conversation. Gandhi told Patel that although earlier he had believed either Patel or Nehru would have to withdraw from Cabinet, he now agreed with Mountbatten, the new Governor-General, that both were indispensable. He told Patel that he would make a statement to this effect at the prayer meeting, and he would say this to Nehru when he called that evening. He might even postpone his departure for Wardha if he felt there was any trouble between the two.

As Gandhi and Patel were speaking, two Kathiawad leaders came and told Manu they wished to see Gandhi. She enquired of Gandhi whether he would see them. Said Gandhi in Patel's presence, "Tell them that I will, but only after the prayer meeting, and that too if I am still living. We shall then talk things over." Manu conveyed Gandhi's reply to the visitors and invited them to stay for the prayer meeting. Yet again, Gandhi had spoken of his possible imminent demise, and on this occasion in front of the man with prime responsibility for his safety. While Gandhi talked Abha served him his meal. It included goat's milk, vegetable soup, oranges and carrot juice. Gandhi then asked for his charkha, which he plied lovingly for the last time.

For Gandhi this fateful Friday had been, more or less, a normal day. But for Nathuram Godse, a 37-year-old Hindu extremist, it was a momentous one from the second he awoke that morning in Old Delhi Railway Station's Retiring Room No. 6. For today was the day he was going to kill Mahatma Gandhi.

Early in the morning Godse was joined by fellow conspirators Narayan Apte and Vishnu Karkare. There were actually eight men involved in the plot to kill Gandhi. The three who would carry out their group's second assassination attempt spent the day working out the details of their planned murder and preparing for the awful deed. They would stand at the outer rim of the crowd toward the right as they faced the elevated platform on which Gandhi sat. Godse would shoot at Gandhi with a seven chambered automatic pistol from this distance of about 35 feet. The other two would fend off anyone who tried to interfere. Godse had little experience with guns.

In mid-afternoon they left the railway station and went to Birla Temple. The other two prayed, but Godse did not. At 4.30, Godse, dressed in a newly bought khaki jacket - it would be a confrontation of khaki versus khadi - left the temple by tonga for Birla House. Five minutes later, Apte and Karkare took their own tonga.

Before five o'clock Godse reached Birla House, followed by Apte and Karkare. Since the failed assassination attempt on January 20, Gandhi had acceded to the wishes of Patel and Nehru, and permitted about 30 police, uniformed and plainclothes, to be stationed at various points around Birla House and its surrounds. Not to have agreed, Gandhi felt, would have only added to the burdens on the shoulders of the two leaders. But he drew the line at agreeing to the searching of those entering the grounds to attend his prayer meetings. Upon arrival the conspirators observed that the guard had been increased, and, with great relief, that no-one was being searched. All three entered the grounds without difficulty. They walked through the front entrance separately, as Gandhi and Patel at the rear of the mansion carried on their conversation.

It was 5 pm. Afternoon was fading to evening as the winter sun dipped low. Five o'clock was the appointed time for prayers. Gandhi disliked ever being late, especially for prayers. But he was not wearing his familiar Ingersoll pocket watch. These days others were his timekeepers. Manu and Abha saw the hour but dared not interrupt such an important conversation. At 5.10 they could wait no longer. Abha showed Gandhi his watch. But he was not distracted. Finally in desperation Mani intervened, and with Gandhi saying, "I must now tear myself away", the talk ended.

Gandhi got up, put on his chappals and stepped through the side door out of the room into the twilight. He wore a shawl for warmth. As usual he lent gently on his two "walking sticks". Manu was on his right and Abha on his left. As usual also Manu carried Gandhi's spittoon, spectacle case and rosary, and her notebook. Brij Krishna was behind them, together with some members of the Birla family and a few others, including the two Kathiawad visitors. Sushila Nayar, who normally walked in front of Gandhi, of course was not there. Nor, momentarily, was another attendant Gurbachan Singh, who with one or two other men was usually in front of Gandhi. Also absent from his position at Gandhi's side was A.N. Bhatia, the recently introduced plainclothes policeman. He had been assigned elsewhere that day, and no replacement had been appointed. The congregation had wondered why the punctual Gandhi was late, but now they could see him coming.

Thus Mahatma Gandhi set out an his final 200 yard journey, his final trek, his final march. He had come from Porbandar, to Rajkot, to the Inner Temple, to Bombay, to Durban, to Pietermaritzburg, to Johannesburg, to Phoenix Settlement, to Tolstoy Farm, to Champaran, to Sabarmati, to Yeravda, to Dandi, to Kingsley Hall, to St James Palace, to Sevagram, to the Age Khan Palace, to Noakhali, to Calcutta, to Delhi.

Today he did not walk as usual through the leafy arbour to the right side of the grounds. Being late he took a short cut directly across the lawn to the steps leading to the terrace where prayers were held.

Despite everything, his mood was light. He joked about the raw carrot Abha had served him that day. "So you are serving me cattle fare!" he exclaimed. Abha replied that Ba, Gandhi's deceased wife, used to call it horse fare. Rejoined Gandhi as they hurried along, "Is it not grand of me to relish what no-one else would care for?"

Abha and Manu teased Gandhi for neglecting his watch and his timekeepers both. "It is your fault that I am 10 minutes late," he responded. "It is the duty of nurses to carry on their work even if God himself should be present there. If it is time to give medicine to a patient and you hesitate, the poor patient may die. I hate it if I am late for prayers even by a minute."

With this the party had finished the first 170 yards of the journey and had reached the foot of the six curved steps that led onto the prayer ground. Gandhi always insisted on his party stopping all jokes and conversation before they entered the prayer ground. About now Gurbachan Singh caught up with the group, but did not move in front of Gandhi.

Around India and the world Gandhi's numberless friends and co-workers, old and new, were carrying on in the knowledge that Mahatma Gandhi lived still. Reverend John Haynes Holmes was at his home in New York, Mirabehn was at her ashram in the Himalayas, Mountbatten was at Government House, Nehru was at work in Delhi, Pyarelal was on his way to Birla House, the Life magazine photographer Margaret Bourke-White was just a few streets away, Patel was returning to his bungalow, and American journalist Vincent Sheean, who also had an appointment with Gandhi that evening, was only a few yards away on the Birla House terrace, himself part of the throng.

The hushed crowd was several hundred thick (including possibly about 20 plainclothes policemen). At the top of the steps Gandhi brought his palms together to greet the gathering. As usual, the people parted to make a passage for him to the wooden platform. Critically, today there was no-one in front of Gandhi.

The supreme moment had come. Gandhi trod his final steps to eternity.

Through the parting, Godse saw Gandhi coming straight towards him. Godse then made an instant decision to completely change the plan, and to shoot Gandhi there and then from point-blank range. The Mahatma had taken just few paces from the steps. Godse elbowed his way through, parting from the other two, and approached the Mahatma with his palms joined. The tiny black Italian Beretta pistol was concealed between them. He bowed low and said, "Namaste, Gandhiji." Gandhi joined his palms in acknowledgement. Manu thought Godse was going to kiss Gandhi's feet, a practice the Mahatma did not like. She motioned him away. "Brother, Bapu is already late for prayers. Why are you bothering him?" she said.

Gandhi had been expecting another attempt on his life. As this incident occurred, he might have understood... this was it.

No police intervened. Godse pushed Manu forcefully aside with his left hand, momentarily exposing the gun in his right. The items in her hands fell to the ground. For a few moments she continued arguing with the unknown assailant. But when the rosary dropped she bent down to pick it up. At this precise moment, a burst of deafening blasts ripped apart the peaceful atmosphere as Godse fired three bullets into Gandhi's abdomen and chest. As the third shot was fired Gandhi was still standing, his palms still joined. He was heard to gasp, "He Ram, He Ram" ("Oh God, Oh God"). Then he slowly sank to the ground, palms joined still, possibly in a final ultimate act of ahimsa. Smoke filled the air. Confusion and panic reigned. The Mahatma was slumped on the ground, his head resting in the laps of both girls. His face turned pale, his white shawl of Australian wool was turning crimson with blood. Within seconds Mahatma Gandhi was dead. It was 5.17pm.

Early that very morning, foreseeing the manner of his death, Gandhi had said to Manu, "If someone fires bullets at me and I die without a groan and with God's name on my lips, then you should tell the world that here was a real Mahatma..."

Gandhi had journeyed through a lifetime from Porbandar to Delhi. He had journeyed from a struggle against disenfranchisement in Natal, to one against British rule of India, to one for peace and justice in free India. He had journeyed from ordinary young man to Mahatma.

He had journeyed "from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality."

His teachings had journeyed from India to the four corners of the world.

Gandhi, the soldier of Truth, lay on the soft, moist earth, his body sacrificed. But Gandhi had never fought with the body but with the spirit, and that remained untouched.


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The Last Hours of Mahatma Gandhi - Part 01

This is superb, i still dont remember from where did i get this

PUNCTUALLY at 3.30am on Friday, January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi awoke to greet the last morning he would ever see.

He was in the tense atmosphere of Delhi, staying in a ground-floor guest room of Birla house, the mansion of industrialist and benefactor G.D. Birla located in Albuquerque Road. Gandhi had arrived in the strife-torn capital of newly independent India on September 9, 1947 from Calcutta, where he had performed a miracle of peace-making. By January 30, almost four months had passed since his 78th, and last, birthday. It was 12 days since the successful end of his fast to bring about a reunion of hearts in Delhi. But 10 days before, there had been an aborted attempt on his life during the evening prayer meeting at Birla House. With the situation in Delhi having stabilised, Gandhi was again looking to the future, but his life was in grave danger - and he knew it.

The Mahatma's last day would be as methodical and crowded as any other. Upon getting up from his wooden plank, he roused the other members of his party. They included attendants Brij Krishna Chandiwala and Manu and Abha, his grand-nieces. His physician, Dr Sushila Nayar, who was normally with him, was away in Pakistan. He brushed his teeth with a twig like any ordinary Indian.

At 3.45 am prayers were held on the same cold verandah where the party had slept. With Sushila away, Manu led the Bhagavad Gita recitation. They recited the first and second shlokas. Another female member had failed to rise in time for prayers. This disturbed Gandhi. He mused whether she should leave him, and concluded by saying, "I do not like these signs. I hope God does not keep me here very long to witness these things." When Manu asked Gandhi which prayer she should chant for him, Gandhi chose a favourite Gujarati hymn. The song begins, "Whether weary or unweary, man, do not tarry, stop not, your struggle if single-handed - continue, and do not tarry!"

After prayers, leaning on his "walking sticks", Manu and Abha, the old man moved slowly into the inner room where Manu covered his legs with a warm blanket. It was still dark outside as Gandhi began his day's work. He corrected the draft of his proposal for a new Congress constitution written the previous night. This document was to become known as his Last Will and Testament to the nation. At 4.45 he drank a glass of lemon, honey and hot water, and an hour later, his daily glass of orange juice. While working, because of weakness caused by the fast, he became tired and allowed himself a sleep.

Waking after only half an hour, Gandhi asked for his correspondence file. The previous day he had written a letter to Kishorlal Mashruwala. One of two matters the letter discussed was a tentative plan for Gandhi to soon leave Delhi and go to Sevagram. The letter had been mislaid, by Manu, and not posted. But it was found and Gandhi gave it to be posted, the last of many thousands. Manu had also wished to convey a message to Mashruwala, who had recently left Gandhi's service. She asked Gandhi whether they were returning to Sevagram on February 2, in which case they would be seeing Mashruwala soon anyway. Gandhi replied, "Who knows about the future? If we come to a decision regarding Sevagram, I shall announce it at the evening prayer meeting. It will then be relayed on the radio at night."

Also a consequence of his fast, Gandhi suffered from a bad cough. To treat it he would take palm-jaggery lozenges with powdered cloves. But by this morning the clove powder had finished. Instead of joining him in his morning walk, a stroll up and down the room, Manu sat down to prepare some more. "I shall join you presently," she said to Gandhi. "Otherwise there will be nothing at hand at night when it is needed." But always focusing on the here-and-now, Gandhi replied, "Who knows what is going to happen before nightfall or even whether I shall be alive. If at night I am still alive you can easily prepare some then." Manu, although well aware of Gandhi's principled stance against modern medicines, could not refrain from offering him penicillin lozenges instead. Unyielding, Gandhi asked her how she could 1offer him such things when his faith was in Ramanama and prayer.

The Mahatma's first appointment for the day was at 7 am, with Rajen Nehru who was going to America. Gandhi spoke with her while taking his morning constitutional in the room. He had not yet regained enough strength for his customary long walk in the open air.

Next Gandhi was to have a massage. Passing through his secretary Pyarelal's room, Gandhi handed Pyarelal his draft submission for the new Congress constitution, written for the forthcoming Congress Working Committee meeting. Gandhi asked him to go through it carefully. "Fill any gaps that you may find in my thinking," he instructed. "I have prepared it under heavy strain." Brij Krishna gave Gandhi the half-hour massage in a room adjacent to his sitting room. Two electric heaters were needed to warm the chilly air. While laying on the table Gandhi digested the morning newspapers.

After the massage Gandhi asked Pyarelal whether he had finished the revision. Gandhi also requested him to write a note on how, in the light of his work in Noakhali, he believed an impending rice crisis in Madras province could be handled. Manu then gave Gandhi his bath. During this he asked her whether she was doing the hand exercises he had prescribed. Manu told him that she did not like the exercises, then listened to a long but gentle rebuke from her master, who told her of the responsibility he had taken for her health and moral development.

After the bath Manu weighed the little man (who was about five feet and five inches tall). He was 109 1/2 pounds. He had regained two-and-a-half pounds since ending his fast. His strength was returning. Pyarelal thought he looked refreshed after his bath. The strain of the previous night had disappeared. When someone told Gandhi that a woman member of Sevagram Ashram had missed her train that morning because there had been no conveyance for the several mile ride to Wardha station, he asked in all seriousness, "Why did she not walk to the station?" Then Gandhi did his morning Bengali writing exercise. Today he wrote, "Bhairab's home is in Naihati. Shaila is his eldest daughter. Today Shaila gets married to Kailash."

By now it was 9.30, and time for Gandhi's morning meal. The meal included cooked vegetables, 12 ounces of goat's milk, four tomatoes, four oranges, carrot juice and a decoction of ginger, sour limes and aloes. While eating Gandhi talked with Pyarelal about the draft Congress Constitution, to which Pyarelal had made some alterations. Pyarelal also reported on the outcome of a meeting the previous day with the leader of the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. Gandhi had sent Pyarelal to inform Dr Mookerjee of speeches of a particular Hindu Mahasabha worker inciting the assassination of some Congress leaders. Could not Dr Mookerjee stop these inflammatory speeches? Dr Mookerjee's reply was halting and unsatisfactory, reported Pyarelal to the Mahatma. Pyarelal observed Gandhi's brow darken as he repeated Dr Mookerjee's reply. Gandhi and Pyarelal then talked at length about the volatile situation at Noakhali. He told Pyarelal also of his plan to go to Pakistan. He asked Pyarelal to go back to Noakhali, but to wait until he had returned to Sevagram. Pyarelal was surprised at this request, for it was unusual for Gandhi to delay anyone returning to their post. Mid-morning also, an old associate from Gandhi's South African days, Rustom Sorabji, called in with his family.

Next, at about 10.30, Gandhi again slept. The soles of his feet were rubbed with ghee. At midday he awoke and drank a glass of hot water with honey. A little later he walked alone to the bathroom. It was the first time since his fast that he had walked unaided. "Bapuji," Manu called out to him, "how strange you look, walking all alone!" Gandhi laughed and said, "It's nice, isn't it? 'Walk alone, Walk alone'!" These l ast words were Tagore's.

Morning had given way to afternoon. At about 12.30 Gandhi talked about the plan of a prominent local doctor to build a nursing home and orphanage. He wanted very much to help. Soon Gandhi was visited by a delegation of Delhi Muslim leaders who were calling daily. Communal tensions and the refugee crisis still darkened the atmosphere in the capital. Gandhi discussed with the leaders his wish to go to Wardha to see about his institutions there and attend a conference on February 2. He would be back in Delhi by the 14th. He sought their permission to leave Delhi. "I do expect to be back here by the 14th. But if Providence has decreed otherwise, that is a different matter. I am not, however, sure whether I shall be able to leave here even on the day after tomorrow. It is all in God's hands." The leaders gave their permission for Gandhi to leave Delhi. He would announce his plans at the evening prayer meeting.

On his last day Gandhi also spoke about his late beloved secretary Mahadev Desai. A biography of Mahadev's was to be written, but there was disagreement over financial terms. Gandhi expressed his frustration at this. Mahadev's diaries also needed to be edited and compiled. The ideal candidate, Narhari Parikh, was in poor health. The task, Gandhi decided, should fall to Chandrashanker Shukla. Mashruwala had been another candidate.

The Mahatma also met with Sudhir Ghosh, who mentioned an apparent campaign in the British press to highlight a rift that had developed between Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel. Gandhi would raise the matter with Patel who was calling this afternoon, and with Nehru who, with Maulana Azad, was calling at 7pm this evening.

Gandhi lay down in the afternoon January sunshine and had his abdominal mud pack. To shade his face he donned the peasant's bamboo hat he had brought from Noakhali. Kanu and Abha again pressed his feet. A journalist who was there asked Gandhi if information that he was leaving for Sevagram on February 1 was correct. "Who says so?" Gandhi asked. "The papers have it," replied the journalist. "Yes," rejoined Gandhi, "the papers have announced that Gandhi would be going on the Ist. But who that Gandhi is, I do not know."

At about 1.30pm, Brij Krishna read out to Gandhi a statement by Master Tara Singh which angrily advised the Mahatma to retire to the Himalayas. A similar attack by a refugee yesterday had shocked him, and this also left its mark. Gandhi then took a few ounces of carrot and lemon juice. Some blind and homeless refugees came to meet him. He gave instructions to Brij Krishna about them. Then the Allahabad Riot report was read to him.

Time was ebbing away. It was now mid-afternoon.

Continued to part 02


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On The Firing Line : My 500 Days At APPLE

http://tinyurl.com/reviewMy500DaysAtApple
My 500 days at Apple
An insider look at Gil Amelio's(the than CEO) stay at Apple

The Book is : On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple - Gil Amelio and Willian L. Simon

A book directly from the mouth of Apple's 5th CEO, Gil Amelio.

We always believe that a book is nothing but a written proof of a success story. Especially these kind of books always tell how people have climbed up the ladder to FAME and PROSPERITY. But this book is totally opposite. It tells how unsuccessful Gil Amelio was.

Shocked !!! aren't you? Don't worry nobody is foolish enough to write his/her so called death story. On the contrary, we can say that, this book covers Gil's unfortunate efforts to turnaround Apple. Not only because of his incompetency, but also for reasons which can be well justified from the book. Some reasons are not directly presented, but are needed to be extracted from the text ; may be as a conclusion.

The book commences with some background story on Gil, during his tenure at National Semiconductor. National Semiconductor is one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers. Then it moves to how he was called upon at Apple. What all consideration and decision making went from Gil's side? The journey continues to the final day, the day on which he was FIRED from Apple. Hence the name of the book is given, "ON THE FIRING LINE" .

If you think from a typical point of view, it is just a story telling book. But lot of things can be extracted from the book. It concludes in a totally different way. Fundamentally, what secernate this genre of books is, the author directly share their experiences. Whether Good or Bad, Successful or Unsuccessful- it helps a lot. At least they do not confuse us unlikely the Management Gyan books.

These author are bold enough, to share with us their feelings, which helps the world in not making the same mistake at least, if not more than that.

The book brings out that Apple in spite of being one of the most innovative companies, at management level was a mess. All hindrances that Gil had to face, tells nothing but how disorganized Apple was. Though innovation matters, its not the only thing that run a company. Management needs to be strong enough. As we all know, it is the Top level which has to have a neutral mindset, irrespective of any type of low and mid level. Any business needs to make profit, need sales, marketing, operations, etc.., in short a management perspective. Any domain expert needs a proper management guidance, otherwise iPod must not have been so successful.

Gil gives examples of various product that didn't do well, though the research put behind them was unmeasured. He gives a particular example of Power Book 5300 (series of Laptop from apple), which was one of he biggest disaster in apple's history. Only having a good design/concept does not sell. Either there should be a demand, or the product should create its niche in the market. To sell even a path breaking product we need a good strategy or a Rational.

So it goes like this, either it should be BOTTOM UP(on Demand/Pull) or it should be TOP DOWN(push/create demand). For such product based companies, according to me, it must be top down. The flow goes as follows :

1 - First it begins by innovation/discovering/inventing a concept.

2 - Develops it into a wonderful product, probably a breakthrough. Of course for this they have to do some home work, like market research(which was supposed to materialized by Lee Iaccoca at FORD).

3 - Then it develops a sales strategy and marketing concept.

4 - For these you need Finance for funding things and Operations to put things into action.

5 - Finally on the top of everything, we have to have a central control named CEO. It is said that CEO is synonymous to risk taking.

Here Gil gives reasons for each and every designation we have came across till date. Say , why do we need a CFO, or why we have to create a post like Sales manager etc... Apple becomes a great example, for proving that only having one of the finest engineers of the market, cannot earn you profits.

One thing that should appreciated here is, Gil had the courage to join Apple, at a stage where he was at the peak of his career at National Semiconductor. This exhibits that, money is not the only thing you should look for in your career, especially when you change a job. Sometimes even to gain experience, you need to take the risk.

Then there is some technical issues, discussed, while developing apple's range of Personal Computers. What were the issues regarding selecting Operating System(OS is the main software that runs your PC)for e.g. Windows, MAC? At that period of time they were not having any fault tolerant system. They were loosing on customers. How did he made a deal for OS with Bill Gates? In the book you will also see the other side of Steve Jobs(the founder member of Apple computers, besides Steve Wozniak). You will be shocked with the reality about Steve.

Overall, it is a complete package. It presents various aspects of business. At the end it says the same thing, to run an organization we need TEAM WORK. We should have a single Vision and Goal.

Vision comes out of clear GOAL. This vision should be percolated to the lowest level of the hierarchy. People should feel and live in the vision of the company. We should not forget the core values. And all this can be achieved by a good leader. Hence "LEADERSHIP SHOULD PREVAIL".

Excerpts :

01 - Underlying process for carrying out transformation :
The process revolves around financial issues, business practices, and people issues and includes elements such as achieving financial stability first, creating a vision that defines success, learning what the end customer values and delivering that, and establishing metrics in order to "measure your way to excellence."

02 - Strategy is all about : Its figuring out the location, direction and priorities.

03 - Perseverance is often the essential ingredient in success.

04 - Insanity = doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome.

05 - Comment for Gil by Steve : I certainly couldn't have done that and i don't know of anyone who could have, other than you. It was one of the brilliant business maneuvers I've ever seen.

06 - Smile is the second best thing to do with your lips.

07 - Regardless of the consequences, we should always try to do the right thing.

08 - If you start with what is honorable rather than what is profitable, you can hope to achieve both honor and profit.

09 - Experience is the comb that nature gives us after we are bald.

10 - Miss once and you look bad, miss twice and you look incompetent

A slogan given by Rob Reiner : A computer so easy, as adult can use it."


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Top 10 Term Sheet Hacks

A term sheet is a bullet-point document outlining the material terms and conditions of a business agreement. After a Term Sheet has been "executed", it guides legal counsel in the preparation of a proposed "final agreement". It then guides, but is not necessarily binding, as the signatories negotiate, usually with legal counsel, the final terms of their agreement.

Term sheets are very similar to "letters of intent" (LOI) in that they are both preliminary, mostly non-binding documents meant to record two or more parties' intentions to enter into a future agreement based on specified (but incomplete or preliminary) terms. The difference between the two is slight and mostly a matter of style: an LOI is typically written in letter form and focuses on the parties intentions; a term sheet skips most of the formalities and lists deal terms in bullet-point or similar format. There is an implication that an LOI only refers to the final form. A term sheet may be a proposal, not an agreed-to document.

Top 10 Term Sheet Hacks

View SlideShare document or Upload your own. (tags: venture hacks startup)

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The Dilbert Principle

The Dilbert Way
Yet another book on Management Fads by Scott Adams

The Book is : The Dibert Principle - Scott Adams

Here starts the Dilbert story the Dilbert way. I will try to write how i have understood the book, and if possible any practical advantage.

Hence here comes the basic question, WHY THIS BOOK? Well, it was recommended to me by one of my friend who is an avid reader. Also since most of the book is in a comic strip form, i dared(pun intended) to read this book. I have read dilbert strips earlier.

So let me put it this way, this book is not a piece of cake for anyone. It gets quite a bouncer at times. This is because, it totally revolves around the corporate culture. So being a student i did not get the jokes proper, anyways it does not matter much. It is basically a comic way of representing a typical life cycle in an office. Or we can say, it tells all of the cartoonist behavior of humans in an organization through a cartoon. Scott Adams(the Author) calls everyone in such a system as IDIOTS. The author has, around 20 years of experience at Pacific Bell.

As all of us(here i am expecting those people who have at least completed their graduation) are some how aware of the corporate culture, this book can be read as a part of a habit. The best part is even reading the strips will give us the feel of the book. It has some of very good situational jokes. Some of us may even fit in to these characters.

The book is divided into 26 chapters. Each chapter covering topics like Leaders, ISO 9000 etc... Under each chapter, the author have explained how sometimes problem are created out of simple things. How to favor people with authority? How boss kills humanity for the heck of it? How they make things worse or rather complicated, although the problems can be sorted out easily. Reading this book we can really make out how simple management is and how cumbersome we have made it.

In the book, against each topic, the author have tried to explain it, with a direct situation. This situation is drawn in the form of cartoons This thing, about the book, i liked the most. As in no theoretical explanation are given, which sometimes get too lengthy and boring.

In the book, all sorts of typical character in an office, are covered. Be it a Consultant, the Boss, a geek(a hard core techy employee), people from finance etc... The character in focus is DILBERT. Dilbert here is a person with a technical background, and belongs to the technical department. As the name of the book suggests, it totally revolves around all types of interactions with Dilbert. Being a techy what all problems he face. What designation changes are made irrespective of his background. All this and more, the author have humorously produced some fantastic points through his cartoon.

One more thing about the book, which is nice, is the way the topic and the chapters are selected. No chapter is linked with other directly. We can select any chapter at random to read. There are two chapter which are favorites of mine, I recommend that no one should miss it. First is on Consultancy. This chapter describes at what point in business do we need/or rather do we call for a consultant. What does they do and what must they do ideally. In the first paragraph it gives a fantastic definition of a consultant. I have written it in the last section of Excerpts. Second, is the last chapter OA5 (which means Out At 5). Of all his criticism in the 25 chapters the author have described an ideal organization in this chapter. How things should be done ideally. How easy it is to follow simple basic rules and use our common sense to run the business as smooth as possible.

On a concluding note, it is worth buying or at least have a scan.

I would like to add this paragraph from the book before saying 'adios'
"First, there were some amoebas. Deviant amoebas adopted better to the environment, thus becoming monkeys. Then came Total Quality Management."

your comments are welcomed.

Excerpts :

01 - The office is designed for "work", not productivity. Work can be defined as " anything you had
rather not doing".

02 - The most important market segment is known as the "Stupid Rich".

03 - Then you can lower your prices and sell it the Stupid Poor --- that's where the real volume is.

04 - Engineers are the natural enemies of marketing people.

05 - A consultant is a person who takes your money and annoys your employees while tirelessly
searching for the best way to extend the consulting contract.

06 - Engineers : Its not "who you know" that matters, its "who knows less than you do" that matters.

07 - Consultants will ultimately recommend that you do whatever you are not doing now. Centralize whatever is decentralized. Flatten whatever is vertical. Diversity whatever is concentrated and divest everything that is not "core" to the business. You'll hardly ever find a consultant who recommend that keep everything the same and stop wasting money on consultants.

08 - You can test a persons importance in the organization by asking how much RAM his computer has. Anybody who knows the answer to that question is not a decision-maker.

09 - A dollar spent on brainwashing is more cost-effective than a dollar spent on product
improvement.

10 - Obviously there's minimum quality that every product has to achieve. It should be able to
withstand the shipping process without becoming unrecognizable. But after the minimums are achieved, its advertising that makes big difference.

11 - The real art of selling comes in when your product sucks compared to the competition.


Talking like a Manager:
A manager would never say, ’’I used my fork to eat a potato’’. A manager would say, ’’I utilized a multitined tool to process a starch resource’’. The two sentences mean almost the same thing but the second one is obviously from a smarter person.

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a temporary retirement

Actually tired of writing and posting on blog.
Then too coming up with new ideas on bloggin, dunno when i'll stop blogging.
I think i should employ ppl to write blog, but before that should earn some good money from ads :))

So what is in my mind :
a blog on Sanskrit - its currently the In thing on my Mind, started learning Sanskrit
a blog on Indian Business Families : http://indianbizfamilies.blogspot.com
a blog on a FLOW of Software Development Lifecycle as an when we move on that path.
a blog on quizzing

Cya after 24

Only The Paranoid Survives

What are Strategic Inflection Points.
How change was managed in Intel by Andy Groove

The Book is : Only the Paranoid Survive - Andy Groove

Let me start with giving some background information for the author. Andrew(Andy) S. Groove emigrated to the U.S from Hungary in 1956. He is one of the co-founder member of INTEL(Integrated Electronics).In 1979 he became the president of INTEL and eventually in 1987, the Chief Executive.

Well INTEL certainly does not need any introduction or background. Being one of the worlds largest Computer Chip producer and Semiconductor company, more than 50 percent of world’s Computer are powered by their Microprocessors. Microprocessors are said to be the brain of the computer(Personal Computer)or PC.

So coming back to the book, "Only the paranoid survives" as the name suggests, is a book on the changes which happens in any type of business. No business goes smooth enough as always there are some ups and downs. But sometimes these ups and downs cross their limits. The conditions or the change, that occur is so drastic that it makes difficult to even survive in the market. It is this time, that an organization is tested for its quality and process. Basically this book tells us how to cope up with this crisis. Such crisis are termed by the author as "Strategic Inflection Points" (SIP).

The book’s description perfectly fits with the cliché "Short and Sweet". Really the book has very less number of pages, as compared to the topic, also it is neatly organized. Even the font and font size used helps us to read the book more easily. The best part of the book is, it has only 9 chapters. In those 9 chapters Andy, has very effectively put down his point. One more thing that is nice about the book is, each chapter is divided into small(1 or 2 page) topics. Hence, the author has made a point to explain things under categorized headings, also seeing to it that the topic is not long enough to make it boring and heavy.

Now coming to the need or the concept of the book. The concept is not so different from the past. If you people read any of the books from such business barons the conclusion you can make is "change is the only constant in business". Any book that you read indirectly comes to one point, how to survive the crisis. Changes do come while you run a business and it prevails. You cannot avoid it, but you should intelligently accept and blend with it. Change can be anything, technological break through, business policy change or change in customer orientation.

The thing that make this book a different case is, it is neither an Autobiography like "Lee Iacocca", nor a single case study on the author’s company like "Odyssey". Andy has given example of SIP occurring across different verticals of business. From the silent movie era to this point of time he covers it all. He has explained with live example that companies which survive over a period of time, are those who bow down to and accept the change. But such dramatic are these changes that it influences the whole world market. The force that make such a change is termed as 10x force from Andy’s point of view. This is because, everything it changes is 10 times or 10 fold.

Hence throughout the book Andy has explained how 10x change effects a business. He gives example of his own company, plus some other examples. He explains what are the reasons that leads to such a change. How should we recognize such a change and react accordingly? What happens if an organization over looks such SIPs? Can we cope up, if we are late? What if we are paranoid and start early by anticipating such SIP?

For an organization to survive, as we all know theoretically, it is a group effort that withstands such problems. Author explains how should we keep ourself as a group. What things should be done so that we stay close? How should people at senior management should keep those ears alert? What are the duties of middle management. Middle management are the glue between lower level and upper level says the author? Also what should be the duties of lower level employees?

The best comes now. During crisis to hold the company as a single organization, we need a leader. Which will at least take the organization to a particular direction at times, even its wrong from the current scenario. This will boost confidence throughout the organization, which is the need for the moment. He/She should be the "TORCH BEARER" in the darkness of CRISIS.

Concluding on the book, initially as a small start up the company grows, during this the organization molds it self in a particular direction and method. As company succeeds futhur, its processes get older and older. Therefore, their develops a certain way of business, some unwritten rules. But after every, say 10 years approx, a major change occurs. For example it could a mini computer revolution for mainframes, or PC revolution for mini computers. Now since this organization has followed on particular direction over past and succeed, there are 3 possibilities:

1: Either it is adamant to change and feels that their current way of business is correct, hence they continue in same old fashion and "DIE"

2: Or the company foresees the change as an opportunity or new line of business. It will then
adapt to change and hence, it survives and become successful or even a market leader like "INTEL".

3: Or the company can not make out what to do, but understands that change is the only option to survive. Still their are 2 possibilities :-

• 3.1: It is too late, it cannot handle the change and "DIES"

• 3.2: Or It some how manages the change on the border line and "SURVIVES".

Thats it guys. Please feel free to comment on my reviews.


Some Excerpts:

01 - I believe that against other people’s attacks and to inculcate this guardian attitude in the 01
people under his or her management

02 - Inflection point is a time in the life of a business when its fundamentals are about to change.

03 - Business fail either because they leave their customers, i.e., they arbitrarily change a strategy that worked for them in the past( obvious change), or because their customers leave them (subtle one).

04 - Whether a company became a winner or a loser was related to its degree of adaptability.

05 - I also learned that strategic inflection points, painful as they are for all participants, provide an opportunity to break out of a plateau and catapult to a higher level of achievement.

06 - Sometimes a Cassandra brings out tidings of a disaster but a new way of looking at things.

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ROCK GODS - BEATLES, AC/DC MAY HAVE TO ...

ROCK GODS - BEATLES, AC/DC MAY HAVE TO ...

What do the Beatles and AC/DC have in common? Neither band sells songs on Apple’s iTunes, yet both are getting into video games. No, rock gods haven’t given up getting high and scoring in fav...

Rock Band has sold 4 million copies, earning $600 million in revenues. And people can’t solely listen to music through the games, so it’s hard to see how it will cannibalize CD sales. Piracy is also less of an issue with video games. It’s a lot harder to download an entire illegal game than it is to rip and burn a couple of songs.....read more...

Mustang memories

Mustang memories

T ······················ he incident could have been in the movie American Graf- fiti. It was 1969, and Jim Coash went cruising in Kalamazoo,Michigan, with his friend Phil Fletcher, prou...

The car wasn’t named after a horse, but the army’s P-51 fighter plane of World War II. Ironically, there was little about the Mustang that was special mechanically. It was basically a stylish body—with a long hood and short rear deck—fitted on to the mechanical underpinnings of the boring Ford Falcon. In late 1964, the head of Ford’s market research department, Seymour Marshak, thus described the process to the Detroit Free Press: “You can take a girl, put her hair in a bun, add horn-rimmed glasses and lowheeled shoes, flatten out her chest and her behind, and you’ve got a school librarian. Take the same girl in upswept hair, contact lenses, spike heels, fill out her figure top and bottom—and you’ve got a sexpot! We did much the same thing with a car.” Marshak, it seems safe to say, would have chosen a different analogy today. ......read more...