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My learnings from Robin Sharma's workshop 'Leader without a title' Last week I was fortunate to attend Robin Sharma's

Live workshop on 'Leader without a Title'. Three hours of listening to Robin Sharma was incredibly enlightening. I paid Rs 3000 (the cheapest ticket available) for the ticket which I felt was an investment. It's a privilage to share a few of my key learning from the session: Most of the times we get busy being 'busy'. We keep climbing the wrong mountain and realize the same much later. Do not live the life of regrets. We deserve the best and not 'mediocrity'. 2.1 hours are wasted on distractions and it takes 25 minutes to refocus at your work. Ensure distractions at work are completely removed. Three duties of a leader: Creating impact, Influencing, Inspiring. You double your income at triple the rate of your learning. The king and the begger would be buried next to each other's grave. What matters towards the end is not the car you drove or the castle you lived in. What really matters is how much value did you add in others lives. Ideation without lazor sharp execution is only dillusion. Your behavior broadcasts your values.The way you do one thing, the way you do 'everything'. Disipline is indeed the key.Get rid of silly excuses.Get addicted to results. If you lead only by the virtue of your title, then when you loose the title , you loose the people. Lead yourself first before leading others. Aim at being a great human being. When you were born, you cried and others rejoiced. Live such a life that when you die, others cry. Always learn and embrace change. Successful people are inspired by change. Unsuccessful people are the ones who are impressed by celebrity, by people's names and titles. Shift your focus from entertainment and gossip to education. Find a cause bigger than yourself and give your soul to it. Secret of passion is purpose. Leadership comes from bringing passion to the workplace by making each person realise his true potential. You can be the Lady Gaga of autodrivers or the Mick Jagger of the mailroom. Be a rockstar at work. Managers develop organisations, leaders develop people. Connecting and collaborating is what Leadership 2.0 is about. You need to remind people at your workplace that each of them has a purpose and can be a leader if they work with focus and passion. Consistency is the mother of mastery. The little acts of risk taking, authenticity and kindness REALLY matters. Secret to genius is specializattion. Geniuses are really good at FEW things and not everything. Make sure when people leave you they feel better than the time they met you. They should become the brand ambassadors of your company and not brand vampires. Edit + Amplify: Nothing fails like success. Ensure the growth is purposeful. Let's not grow for growth sake. Keep your video in sync with your audio: Walk the talk...Practice what you preach...

Pleasing everyone and being liked by everyone is a major hinderance to innovation. Successful people want to make history with their work and not money. They want their work to remain alive even after their last breath. 8 traits of a leader without a title: APR: Absolute Personal Responsibility OAD: Obsessicve Attention to Details LBE: Lead By Example ABBOU: Always Be Delivering Outrageous Value NSI: Never Stop Improving BIW: Best In World BRBO: Put you Best Resource in Best Oppurtunities KMF: Keep Moving Forward High productivity practicees: Get up early- You will have enough time to sleep when you die ;-) Do not check e mails in the morning. Creativity appears best in morning. Spend some quite time in solitude. Learn to say 'No' with respect. No gossips and critisicm. Truly world class people talk about ideas. Clarity provides focus and creativity. Eat less and in a purposeful manner. Drink lots of water and super hydrate yourself. Be aware of your environment. The external environment inspires internal creativity. Practice & preparation are the key as all of us are in show business. Ensure you make 5 daily wins. They need not be revolutionary in nature, but should be evolutionary. Develop 'leadership language'. Your words energise you and others. Leave your ego today

Do you have enough HEROes (Dabanggs) in your team??? There are two places in Chennai where you can locate me on a Sunday late morning: My room or Landmark Bookstore!!! While surfing the books I came across 'Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business'. A few random turning of the pages & I found an insightful matrix:

The X axis signifies 'the quantum of empowerment one feels at work' and Y axis signifies 'quantum of resourcefulness with which one acts in his workplace'. It's depressing to know that only 20 % of US Information workers fall under the category of 'HERO-Highly Empowered Resourceful Operatives'. So who has a greater onus in ensuring that the employees fall under the 'top right hand quadrant of the matrix'??? Employees themselves or employers??? I would not recieve any brownie point for giving the lucid answer. But the answer is 'Both'. In the age of Co-creation, it's both the employee and the employer who have to work in an ever inclusive manner to 'co-create' many Heroes. However, the most conflicting issue is that when companies want to create more 'HEROes' and employees themselves desire to become 'HEROes' then why dont we have enough HEROes (Based on the above matrix)?

According to my ever innocent opinion, I feel the conflict often arises when it comes to paying the right price for either enabling or becoming an 'HERO-Highly Empowered Resorceful Operatives' from both the employee & employer's end. The singlemost important attribute in creating enough 'HEROs' at workplace would be the 'mutual confidence' in 'co-creating HEROs'. I wish everyone a Glorious & Dabangg('Fearless' in Hindi spoken in Uttar Pradesh, India) new year in the persuit of finding the 'super heroes' within & around themselves. November 7, 2010 Managing the career aspiration of Youngistan In a recent Conference organized by MTHR Global in Bangalore , I particularly got fascinated by an interesting analogy given by Mr Sangeeth Varghese. The panel discussion revolved around managing career expectations of freshers. More specifically it was a discussion on the after thoughts of presentations by 3 incredible students on their 'Dream Company'. Mr Sangeeth Varghese spoke about how he also was in a simmilar quest of finding something perfect a few years back. Just like the students were chasing their dream of finding the perfect company/job/career, he was in the quest to find the perfect life partner. He met the 'perfect' girl and had the 'perfect marriage'. The situation remained perfect for a few days after marriage but soon he felt it was far from perfect. The relationship was not perfect anymore!!! This made him retrospect for sometime. He did realize that his wife probably did not meet his expectations but did he ever make any effort to know if he met his wife's expectation? On further retrospection he felt that he did a worse job. His wife also had expectations which were probably overlooked. He then decided to work on the shortcomings and gaps. The relationship did improve and today he feels he is blessed with a 'perfect wife' :-) Whatta perfect analogy!!!!!!! Indeed, freshers (including me) often ask how much has the company done for them and how much more it can do for them. Often they measure their expectations from the company. It's equally important to reflect on how much we are able to live upto our company's expectations. I remember Mr Sangeeth saying that 'Perfection is a frame of mind'. I feel in order to achieve that frame of mind one has to sincerely reflect on their own & others' expectations and more importantly work sincerely on meeting those expectations.

This also reminds me to share an insightful post contributed by Gautam Ghosh & written by Sunit Sinha. Here are a few excerpts from the post: A job is what you make it. If you look at your function as only a job (show up, fill a desk, answer a phone, pass on a report), thats what it will be. But if you recognize the time you spend in your early, entry or junior position as a process of career building, then thats what you will have: a career. Always play your role with dignity, looking for ways to learn from it. The real keys to success are not smarts or qualifications or belonging to a brand-name firm. Rather, success is derived from courage, drive, energy, passion, ambition, enthusiasm, excitement, initiative, discipline, a dream and enough self-confidence to keep trying. Dont be intimidated by senior people. Remember, they also started somewhere, and if they are purposely intimidating you, they cant be very secure themselves. Dont, however, confuse intimidation with respect. Even if you dont agree with a senior person, they have earned and deserve their due for what they have achieved in the organization. When you feel underappreciated (or undercompensated) take a deep breath. Even if you are doing better work and have more responsibility than someone earning more or being treated better, show some patience. Its the long term that counts!! Broken promises are remembered more than kept promises. Do what you say you are going to do. Its better to have the guts to say up front, Im not sure I can get that done, than to accept a task that you cant deliver on. It is important to , listen to the assignment and carry out what has been asked. Again, remember that you are the directee, not the director, at this point in your career. You may not like the assignment, but do it with the same enthusiasm that you show for those projects you do like. Pencils must be sharpened, and everyone (even the CEO) has taken his turn. Remember that success is not spontaneous combustion; you have to set yourself on fire. Last but not the least remember who actually pays for your salary the client. Never lose your connect with clients, and always put them at the centre of what you do August 12, 2010 G Ravindran's Blog The latest HR leader to join the blogging universe is G Ravindran, Managing Director, SHRM India. Have a look at his first post which is incredibly candid with a message that most Interviewers overlook. A job interview is one of the first and most credible check point in a professional's journey into a company. Yet at times HR professionals willingly allow their ego to supersede their common sense. One of the finest post that's simple yet immensely powerful. A post that extols a valuable lesson to shift from knowledge perspective to 'heart' perspective. 1 comments Labels: Human Resource August 7, 2010

NASSCOM HR SUMMIT 2010 Let me make an innocent attempt to provide a snapshot of my learning at the NASSCOM HR SUMMIT 2010: The knowledge summit started with the Inaugural talk by Som Mittal, President, Nasscom followed by a panel discussion called Indian Townhall: CEOs in conversation where the conversation primarily revolved around managing the Gen Y aspirations and other emerging talent issues. The eminent panelists for the event were R Chandrasekaran,President & MD,Cognizant; Aparup Sengupta, MD & Global CEO, Aegis Ltd, Krishna Kumar Natarajan,CEO & MD,Mindtree and Som Mittal, President,Nasscom. Some of the key inferences that emerged from this discussion were as follows: S Chandrasekaran: We have to create enough scope for the mavericks to perform in the best of their capacity in order to leverage their creativity. He mentioned that there is always a risk of being complacent while sustaining growth. Especially in such instances its very important to be open to ideas of all formats from everyone. Since the majority of the workforce today is Gen X & GenY. We must connect with them in the right manner. He explained this with an analogy. He explained how a Gen X & GenY employee experiences a seamless virtual connectivity through social networks/media like twitter & facebook where his concerns and inquisitiveness is satiated in a shortest time span on a Sunday but on the Monday morning he again gets into the rigmarole of following HR manuals and time consuming processes. The real challenge is to recognize and sincerely act on repeating that Sunday experience into the Monday experience also. He also focused on the need to collaborate seamlessly and identify enablers that can help to collaborate better. The need for infusing appreciation in the performance mgmt ecosystem, fostering an entrepreneurial climate, infusing fun in the work culture, being tech savvy and embracing the global talent were also key insinuations from his conversation with the panelists. Abarup Sengupta: In order to witness transformation at work, we must start measuring the task in terms of the impact it creates on the solution and not the task in itself. For example, we must stop measuring the number of associates reporting at office or the number of hours invested by the associates. Rather we should measure what kind of impact their presence and task has on solutions. He also emphasized how a strong belief must be transformed into a collective behavior through repetition of the tasks firmly based on the belief in a consistent manner. While commenting on framing the right vision statement, he said that the vision statement must be simple and uncomplicated so that everyone can easily internalize it. Krishna Kumar Natarajan: He emphasized on how the transition of Gen Y recruits from their campus to corporate happens at a very quick pace and hence its important to restore campus experience also at the office. The office needs to be recreated as a campus. While speaking about leadership he said that the ideal way to build leadership is not always the

volumes approach but its about narrating the right stories and inspiring anecdotes. He also mentioned that one of the indicators to know whether HR has graduated as a business partner is to observe whether the HR associate can be prepared to make a business presentation infront of the client. Som Mittal: Leadership must never be distanced from the people and must ensure that people release their energy in the right manner and in the right direction. He also emphasized on the need for having strong code of conduct within the industry in the midst of the turmoil [high attrition & poaching] so that there is a method in the madness. Session II: Knee Jerk HR: Was there a better way to handle the downturn. Speakers: Dr John Sullivan, Professor of Mgmt, San Fransisco State University & Kris Ramachandran, advisor to Chairman, Higher Education Project, Aditya Birla Group. Chair Person: Prithvi Shergill, Lead ,Human Resources, Accenture India. Prithvi Shergill: Whether HR played a pivotal role in handling the downturn is based on whether the HR team was having a place in the table during the strategic discussions? Did the HR team ask the right questions in the right time? Did the organization genuinely invest in HR to become more strategic? These were the few questions through which he set the platform for the discussion. Dr John Sullivian also added the question that did we call our CEOs during the down turn and specify the areas where we should have invested in order to position ourselves better after downturn or did the CEO call the HR leader and ask him about his opinion (even better)?. Kris Ramachandram: Two extremely contrasting examples of GE and South West airlines were given in order to explain how both the companies had completely different approach in being global leaders in their respective fields. GE was synonymous with very objective and aggressive approach of fixing, selling or even closing down their business whereas South West airlines had a much lenient approach of having no layoffs. Yet even though the approaches of the two companies did not have any convergence but both are still leaders in their respective industries. Similarly, there is no one right way to deal with the downturn. He mentioned the 5 dimensions of the Hofstede model and how understanding the respective cultural dynamics are important in framing out the approach towards dealing with downturn. He mentioned the following points to be kept in the minds of the employees in order to deal with a future downturn: Realize that there are no free lunches in this world. We are never entitled for the company benefits; we are only eligible for the benefits. Keep yourself employable through superior performance, constantly improve your skills. Be an influencer. As an Employer we can do the following: Focus on continuous productivity (Repair the roof when sun is shining J)

Manage expectation, beliefs & values. Connect & communicate. John Sulivian: He categorically mentioned that the following went wrong by HR in downturn: It went into a reactive mode and was not anticipatory enough. Did not realize the new economic reality of continuous ups & downs, with little warning. Being overtly optimistic Not having any warning precursors for identifying what occurs prior to a major problem. No contingency labor plan. Lack of prioritization. Cost cutting focus rather than productivity & innovation focus. Solutions adopted with no data on tools effectiveness. No midcourse feedback loop metrics. No accountability. Only guessing when to resume talent growth. Must do list for HR before the next downturn: Conduct failure analysis. Benchmark best practices. Focus on innovation/productivity. Establish contingent labor component. Do surgical layoffs based on performance. Substitute technology for labor (No people first approach) Continue to outsource non core activities. Use peak time & Seasonal empoyees

Next time do countercyclical hiring & poaching [;-) not my thoughts] Session III: Open House- Are Indian players ready to handle a globalized workforce? Speakers: D P Singh, Director,HR, IBM Daksh & Saurabh Govil, Senior Vice President, HR, Wipro Technologies. Chairperson: C. Mahalingam, Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer, Symphony Services. C Mahalingam: Money is what money does and similarly Globalization is what globalization does. The context for the discussion was lucidly set by putting into perspective the thoughts of Thomas Friedman where he considered that Globalization 1.0 was influenced by the government, Globalization 2.0 was influenced by major MNCs and the new age era of Globalization 3.0 requires major role from Individual companies.Mr Mahalingam gave case examples of how Mc Donalds & Coke acted as catalysts in globalization and can be considered as icons of globalization. The following distance issues were highlighted as they are to be carefully studied in course of embracing Globalization 3.0: Culture, Administrative, Geographic & Economic [CAGE]. He also mentioned that the key drivers for success in globalization 3.0 must recognize that global workforce will have different aspiration, ability and engagement. Hence, it will become important to constantly manage as we learn and constantly learn as we manage. D P Singh: The key levers for success in globalized economy are going to be Shared Visions, Policies, Processes, HR system & Communication. Companies have to leverage technology, opportunities, capital & structures. The right answers to the following few questions would help us to handle the globalized economy better: Do you have shared values across the globe embedded & understood by all? Do you have processes to identify, reward & grow talent. Do you have processes & policies in place with effective & robust control mechanism? Do you encourage diverse unconventional points of views to finally integrate with business objectives? How will you relate the Gen Y to your business objectives? Saurabh Govil: The apparent hard issues like labor laws & compliance are much easier to manage but the challenging issues are the perceived softer issues like building local leadership, cultural issues and communication. It also becomes very important to keep on

repeating the right things so that it becomes a part of the organizational fabric. He made a major emphasis on leveraging social network as the future of communication will not be emails but social networks. Session IV: Management of paradoxes Speakers: Hari Thalapalli, Chief People Officer, Mahindra Satyam & Piyush Mehta, Senior VP,Human resources, Genpact. Chairperson: Elango R, Chief Human Resources officer, Mphasis an HP company Elango R: The statement contradiction fuels innovation suffices to articulate that even though managing the paradoxes might be tough but it would be well worth it. Managing paradoxes in HR would be about being an active game changer and not by being a mere facilitator/part of the change process. It would require HR professionals to shift their focus from their HR books to Adam Smiths The wealth of nations and more importantly it will require HR to work in grey shades. Hari Thalapalli: Its fascinating how in lifes philosophy itself so many statements & anecdotes are contradictory yet seemingly idealistic. Hence, the same replicates in business & HR too. The right answers of todays HR paradoxes would be different tomorrow. Its important that in HRs pursuit to manage its paradoxes, it should focus equally on its associates, investors and final customers. Hence, investment into research, capacity building has to sharply increase. Piyush Mehta: The focus must be on making/building talent in an organic manner through Internal promotions, moving to tier 3,4 cities and digitalizing platforms. Another important inference was that the business orientation of the HR would be good for people as in long term what is good for business would certainly be good for people. Session V: What is your USP as an employer? Speakers: Aparna Ballakur, Vice President, HR, Yahoo! & Sreekanth Krishnan Arimanithaya, SV, Global HR operations, HR Business Partner, CA Technologies Chairperson: Gaurav Ahluwalia ,Senior Vice President, HR, HSBC Electronic Data Processing India Pvt Ltd. Gaurav Ahluwalia: USP of either a product or service or even an employer is based on how it brings value to its customer and brings visibility in the market. The case example of Maruti-800 brought out the message clearly. While speaking about USP from employer perspective, he said that pay is only a part of the offer but the real USP is not pay most of the times. Sreekanth Krishnan Arimanithaya: Six elements of creating & evaluating value proposition are Utility value, Satisfaction level, Offer alignment, Employee engagement & Employee

performance. The organizational brand components are total rewards (base pay, external equity, stock options etc), work life (business level, location etc), company (risk taking, diversity etc), Work environment (job fit, promotion, empowerment project responsibility etc). Hence the USP of the company needs to leverage these elements and brand components with the purpose of managing, governing and securing the talent. A special emphasis was made on fostering an entrepreneurial culture within the company. Aparna Ballakur: For an employer USP in the current economy stands for Unique Staying Proposition. Creating the right USP revolves around answering the three questions: What brought you here? What keeps you here? What can take you away from here? She also explained how the focus should be increasingly on stay interviews rather than exit interviews. The USP in Yahoo is centred around opportunity (to change the way the world uses the internet), work (scope of impact:600 million users) & workplace(company cares for every individual & shows this in every process/policy).Also it was interesting to know that fun is a core value of Yahoos culture. In a nutshell, an USP must appeal to the intellect and touch the heart. Session VI: Conquer the Mt Everest-Motivational Talk by Jamling Tenzing Conquering the Mt Everest in the realms of thought itself is very inspiring. If we spend a few moments hallucinating about the presence of Mt Everest then we can realize the how insignificant we are infront of the mighty Everest. Yet few people conquer it through their spirit-the human spirit. The human spirit is common to all of us yet only few realize it. One such man is Jamling Tenzing, son of legendary climber Tenzing Norway. Jamling Tenzings presentation was themed as Touching my fathers soul. He passionately spoke on why he had a single minded focus on climbing the Mt Everest and why it meant so much to him. His childhood hero was always his father and he wanted to climb the Mt Everest the way his father did. In 1996, he climbed the Mt Everest which was later documented in the IMAX film, Everest. This journey helped him to understand himself, his father & his community (Sherpa) better. His quest to climb the Everest was full of challenges like staying away from the family in the hope of meeting them once again to loosing friends who died on the way to climb the Mt Everest. Like in any other team, a mountain expedition also has team members with designated roles. The leader paves the strategy to climb the mountain whereas the Sherpa provides strong support in carrying the food, goods and other essentials. Jamling Tenzing acted as the member who bridged the relationship between the leaders and the sherpas as he himself is a Sherpa who was educated in America. HRs role in business is also similar; he acts as a bridge between the business leaders and the associates. He is expected to be a business as well as people champion who can translate the language of business into a language which is best understood by the people.

In business also, the HR team is often confronted with huge challenges yet they are met with the right direction, team support, planning, courage & passion. Another important life lesson learned from his presentation was that In mountaineering, climbing up is optional but getting down is mandatory. Similarly, in life or business also we make the choice of being the best but we must be ready to face failures courageously too. If we cannot recognize failure and know how to deal with it then we will never know how to react when failure again strikes us in life. He also mentioned how climbers are increasingly realizing that its important to respect nature and keep the surroundings clean while venturing into mountain expeditions. Hence, its not only the end which matters but also the means. HR is the conscious keeper of the organization and must always adhere to ethics in its pursuit to achieve business success. Jamling also stressed that human beings must be passion driven and not ego driven in their pursuits. He cited examples of how many rich businessmen wanted to satisfy their ego to climb the Mt Everest by risking the lives of many sherpas. It was delightful to know that Jamling had great plans of teaching mountaineering to Indian kids in order to infuse in them the idea of sportsmanship. He has been doing a lot of work for the Sherpa community and wants to continue the good work. Even HR has a community to take care of that transcends the associates and their families. He concluded his presentation with his fathers quote: Be a leader, Be a guideBe great and make others great. Day 2 Session VII: Social Network: Leveraging or lamenting Speakers: Arvind Rajan, Vice President, International, Linkedin & Nandita Gurjar,SVP, Group Head HRD, Infosys Technologies Ltd. Chairperson: Anand Pillai, Senior Vice President, Talent Transformation & Intrapreneurship Development, HCL Technologies. Anand Pillai: Social Networking is becoming the new operating system for the new workforce which has the following characteristics: They want freedom. Customized job profile.

They want transparency. They thrive on innovation. They love having fun. They want to collaborate. It was interesting to know that HCL has a virtual passion wall where associates are free to write about their passion and what it means to them. Adding to this practice, they also started the passion club where associates can mention their top 5 passion indicators and join the communities related to them. These communities would facilitate discussions related to their passion and keep them engaged. Arvind Rajan: A few startling statistics on how majority of todays workforce is either actively disengaged or not engaged. Adding to that most companies are having 1 HR associate for every 100 employees. Hence, communication between HR and the associates have sharply reduced. Social media in such a scenario helps to enable better communication. Most companies have focused on horizontal communication through social media but there should be focus on vertical communication too. A CEOs blog is an example of effective communication that also ensures inclusiveness through the comments feature in blogs. It also personalizes the leadership especially when the company is large. Social media should be leveraged for recruiting (employee referrals,tweets), Reward(recognition) and retaining(through collaboration). Following are the few steps that can be taken in order to embrace social media (linkedin specifically): Encourage employee to be on linkedin & connect. Have a strategy for status updates. Give them guidance on how to collaborate. Add purpose & a fresh perspective on being networked. Nandita Gurjar: The 3 myths surrounding social media are: Face to face relationships are far more valuable than virtual ones. The best way to control the use of social media is to block. There is no ROI in social media.

Many eye opening case examples of companies were given where improper use of social media backfired heavily. Hence its important to ensure the following are never discussed in social media: Client confidential. Policy documents. Misuse of code of conduct. It was interesting to know about the My voice initiative in Infosys where employees can voice their opinion on policies before its creation and can also comment during the probation period for which the policy is implemented before its final implementation. Micro-blogging is also an area where companies need to progress towards. Session VIII: Cracking the code on Business agility: lessons from high performing learning organizations Speakers: Bob Danna, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Bersin Associates & Daniel R Bielenberg, Director, Capability Development Strategy Bob Danna: In high intensive learning organizations the following checklist must be kept in perspective: Rethink the learning purpose. Focus a deep specialization. Support learning agility Get realigned to the business Manage programs like portfolios. The two key attributes in a learning culture are as follows: Knowledge sharing on a frequent, encouraging & supportive basis. Reflection- Post success & failure, opportunities for learning at all levels must be leveraged. Daniel R Bielenberg: The existing talent challenge today is dealt through deep specialization, innovation, changeability, industrialization, people development, case skills & common culture (all of them have a learning & development element in it). The process

of building a high performing learning organization begins from building foundational industry knowledge to leveraging high performance business and finally generating sales with industry specific offering & framework. The biggest challenge in learning and development is that most managers treat coaching as a side job and much sincerity is lost in the coaching process. It was interesting to know how an Accenture employee used blogs in order to persuade employees for enrolling in a learning module. She was able to sign up 5000 employees by using a free tool. It is actions like these which make the real difference in both learning development & use of social media. Session IX: The transformed job market Speakers: Aadesh Goyal, Executive Vice President, Global Head, HR,TATA Communications Ltd. R V Balasubramanium Iyer ,Vice President, Reliance Retail. Chairperson: William Paul, Executive Vice President, HR, Global Shared Service Centers, Scope International, Standard Charted Bank William Paul: The speed & quantum of change is humungous today and the customers are also becoming increasingly demanding. This has led to huge talent shortage in many industries. Hence its important that we do the following: Invent your own raw talent pipeline. Finding the balance between raw talent & lateral Day 1 readiness Use of metrics Diversity mgmt Aadesh Goyal: Following must be done in order to deal with the highly transformed job market which seems similar to the pre slowdown phase in 2007: Must focus more on behavioral competencies than technical Competencies while hiring. Continue to hire at lowest level. Build & develop the talent for middle & top management.

Hire from outside (new competencies & new geographies) for new areas. In addition it must also be recognized that the market for CXOs is hot and compensation offered is also very high. R V Balasubramanium Iyer: He had a humorous take on the dilemma of being a recruiter in the retail industry where the desperation for recruiting goes to the extent of advertising in front of the stores saying: Trespasser would be recruited. He emphasized on the importance of partnership between industry, academia & individual. One of the good examples of such partnership is between Manipal University and ICICI (http://www.ima.manipal.edu/). June 6, 2010 My emotions before the first day at work as an HR professional... Six years back when I came to Chennai, I was not sure of the course[BBA] I took in Madras Christian College. I always wanted to join the Indian Army but I could not join it because of a few personal reasons. I found a lot of students eventually choosing to pursue a MBA degree. Hence I thought it would make sense to do BBA and that too when it was offered in Madras Christian College. I had a fabulous time in College. During my second year I made up my mind that I had a personality fit in HR as we got a snapshot about various areas of management very early during the course. To put it in mushy note, I had a small crush on HR. Time progressed and I learned more about HR through professors, friends, seniors, books and mgmt competitions. Then I felt that it's not a mere crush, it had to be love...love for HR...I am happy it happened.... After my BBA, I worked in a top Indian company as a process associate but could not get an HR role there. After approximately 9 months of great learning and observation as an employee I decided to study further in HR. I was very lucky to get into Madras School of Social Work where apart from academics I learned a lot from the field works, summer internship and research project. This gives me an opportunity to thank everyone associated with my life in MSSW :-) Finally one of the world's fastest growing IT company came to campus and I got the opportunity to become an HR professional. For me it's not only about being an 'HR professional' alone. It's beyond that. For 5 years I dreamt of being one. I keenly observed workplaces & people through which I wrote many

posts in this blog. Many appreciated my blog and I also received criticisms. I remember once being invited in a top HR consultancy firm and being told by their director that I lacked basic HR conceptual skills. I tried harder to increase my conceptual skill with sheer passion for HR. Hopefully I have improved and I hope the gentleman who rightfully advised me on my conceptual skills is reading this post today. I have huge respect for him and without his guidance this job would not have been possible. Whatever little[sometimes significant & sometimes insignificant] I achieved through this journey of 5 years is what I value a lot. Also I am keen to know if my writing changes in the blog as an HR practitioner because I have blogged till date without any work experience in HR. I am very excited yet a little nervous. A lot I did till date was for tomorrow & beyond. It's tough to articulate how I am feeling today. I immensely enjoyed this wait only with a vision that it will get over one day and I will become an HR professional. And I am just few hours away from that moment. Will I be able to sleep well today??? Yes!! because I have a certain sense of a 'settling feeling'. But also 'No' because this is another beginning which I wish never ends. I have a deep desire to deliver the best to my company, my team and most importantly my profession. It reminds me of an Urdu Couplet: "Sitaron Se Aagey Jahan Aur Bhi Hai, Abhi Zindagii Mein Imtihaan Aur Bhi Hai" Translation: Beyond the Stars , There are yet Many Worlds, Many more trials are there, Yet to be Faced in this Life. At one point of my life I felt that being an HR professional itself would be like reaching the stars. But my real journey has just started. I am going to be introduced to my major learning now. I am looking forward to every bit of it and I will give my best in order to embrace it all. Let me also take the opportunity to thank everyone who has encouraged & discouraged me throughout. Let me share a few quotes from Abhijit Bhaduri's books Mediocre But Arrogant & Married But Available which I feel very relevant for myself:

As you step into the world of work, you are bringing to it the freshness of ideas and power to change things. Whenever you feel unhappy about something around you, remember, you can improve it. So whether you change it or choose to walk away and just complain-you have made a choice. You have had the education that will tell you what to do and how to do it. But it is only your heart that will tell you why you ought to. Everyday we choose how much we will touch the lives of less fortunate. Never underestimate your ability to make a difference. Whether it is success or failure, remember that 'this too shall pass'. Don't take your business card so seriously that it defines your identity and you feel helpless without it. If you want success, think of yourself, if you want happiness, think of others. Stop asking about the meaning of life and instead, think of yourself as the one being questioned by life. Your answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct. It's midnight now and I must get some rest before another phase of my life welcomes me. Hope to see some of the brightest dreams tonight so that I can keep myself awake to fulfill them. PS: Thanks to my Parents, God,All professors and teachers, HR professionals [especially Abhijit Bhaduri, Gautam Ghosh, Rajesh Kamath,G D Sharma, Sudhir Warde], HR bloggers,friends, cousins,well wishers, my dear readers and many more :-) Harsha Bhogle's speech on excellence Harsha Bhogle is a man with multiple personalities. When he is not with Cricket big shots in the commentary box, he contributes as columnist to multiple news papers. I got a chance to watch a video of his speech , delivered in IIM-A, on excellence. It was the most wonderful speech I have ever heard. It was very motivating and inspiring I have tried summarizing some of the points which he has mentioned in his speech.These are those few lines which were really inspiring. "What is Excellence?" Harsha says Excellence is not a skill Its an attitude! Excellence is about chasing the professional performance goal and letting the results take care of themselves. Excellence never seeks excuses. Excellence is the series of 100% In life if you seek excellence, always seek people who are better than you

Excellence is not about talent alone. Infact major part of excellence has nothing to do with talent. It is what you do with the talent matters. Excellence is also about learning from mistakes. Mistakes are your best friends. Excellence is as much as knowing what not to do as much as knowing what to do Excellence is about desire. Excellence is all about having the confidence to share knowledge Excellence is all about accepting criticism. " What is crucial? The End or The Path" His views on "The End" The end is crucial. Because end is always the driver of the ambition. We usually set ourselves the end or the result goals. The End gives us the vision. "The End" at all cost attitude that pervades is the source for all anxiety. It also creates the temptation to do whatever it takes to win His views on "The Path" Excellence is about chasing the professional performance goal and letting the results / end take care of themselves. Make the process of achievement supreme and make the result irrelevant. Make perfect the process of performance and don't allow the pressure of the results to choke your performance. And that is the wonderful journey path to excellence. "Excellence is a series of 100%" If you give every moment 100% and then wait for the next moment and say " You know what ! this is the moment I wanted to give 100% too" and then the next moment turns up and then you say " Actually this was the moment I really wanted to give my 100% best" . And then you will find the little things in life that makes the difference between the good and great just happen. You don't know who is watching you, where which opportunity is coming along. So always give your 100% best effort. Can you fill 2 litres in a 1 litre pepsi bottle? So you can never give anything more than 100%. But you can give 100% for every moment

There is no shame in saying "Well Done .. you are better than me" When you know that you have given your 100% effort ethically. "Excellence never seeks excuses" The moment someone says "I would have been good But".. it means you are trying to assign the blame of your poor performance on someone else. This means you are not great already! The moment you allow youself to go wrong , you fall into a possibility map, then you DO go wrong! "Stop hating Criticism" Don't live in the rarrified bubble without taking criticism. Never marry a fan. "Arrogance" Arrogance is the biggest stumbling block to success. In the path of excellence, if you have ego and anger on your sde, you don't need an opponent. You have done 90% of the job of ruining youself. "Talent and Attitude" Excellence is not about talent alone. Infact major part of excelelnec has nothing to do with talent. It is what you do with the talent matters. Attitude and Passion count far more than talent Ability talent opens the first door but it is not going to open the last door for you. "Luck" Luck is all bout recognizing the opportunity before it comes. Luck is the fantastic fusion of talent and an opportunity spotted. Here are 3 powerful brain tattoos to make this a fantastic year for you:

#1. My Identity Shapes My Reality Neuroscience confirms your brain is like a giant spam filter you only see what you focus on. So if your self-identity is all about being a victim, youll literally spot conditions that confirm your victimhood. On the other hand, if you see yourself as a powerful creator of your conditions, youll see opportunities to get to your goals and dreams all around you. #2. Dream Big But Start Small Ok, youve heard me say this before but a good coach repeats the fundamentals until they become a part of the way you think and perform. As I wrote in my new book The Secret Letters of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari small daily improvements over time lead to stunning results. One of the great keys to transformation are those little daily wins that stack up into a tsunami of change over the coming months. #3. Vague Plans Provoke Vague Results. I strongly recommend that you write out a 12 month plan, recording at least 5 little or big projects that you commit to getting done each month to ensure this year ends in rare-air. The fact is that a plan becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (as researchers in the emerging field of positive psychology are confirming). In other words, clarity breeds mastery. And the goals you set drive the actions youll take. I truly hope that this year serves as a vehicle for you to change the game. That this year is the year you do the best work of your career (a job is only a job if you choose to see it as a job). The year that you get fit like an athlete. The year to get your financial life to a place called exceptional. The year that you grow the family life of your dreams. And the year that inspired you to craft the life youve always wanted to live (and become the person youve always wished you could be). 15 Ways For You To Do Your Best Work Do your best work by challenging the way you did things yesterday. Do your best work by allowing your passion to see the light of day. Do your best work by becoming part of the solution versus growing the problem. Do your best work by expecting nothing less than you playing at world-class. Do your best work by giving away the credit (especially when you crave it) Do your best work by practicing your skills so you become a virtuoso. Do your best work by releasing excuses and doing important things. Do your best work by getting up when youve been knocked down. Do your best work by keeping your promises; to others and to yourself. Do your best work by showing integrity. Do your best work by delivering more value than anyone could ever expect from you. Do your best work by making time to refill your well. Do your best work by having a strong foundation at home. Do your best work by becoming as fit as a pro athlete. Do your best work by doing work that makes a difference and inspires others to do the same.

As Chuck Palahniuk once said: The goal isnt to live forever. The goal is to create something that will. 60 TIPS FOR A STUNNINGLY GREAT LIFE I want to shift gears from leadership to a pure focus on crafting an exceptional life for this blog post. Ultimately, life goes by in a blink. And too many people live the same year 80 times. To avoid getting to the end and feeling flooded regret over a live half-lived, read (and then apply) these tips: 1. Exercise daily. 2. Get serious about gratitude. 3. See your work as a craft. 4. Expect the best and prepare for the worst. 5. Keep a journal. 6. Read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. 7. Plan a schedule for your week. 8. Know the 5 highest priorities of your life. 9. Say no to distractions. 10. Drink a lot of water. 11. Improve your work every single day. 12. Get a mentor. 13. Hire a coach. 14. Get up at 5 am each day. 15. Eat less food. 16. Find more heroes. 17. Be a hero to someone. 18. Smile at strangers.

19. Be the most ethical person you know. 20. Dont settle for anything less than excellence. 21. Savor lifes simplest pleasures. 22. Save 10% of your income each month. 23. Spend time at art galleries. 24. Walk in the woods. 25. Write thank you letters to those whove helped you. 26. Forgive those whove wronged you. 27. Remember that leadership is about influence and impact, not title and accolades. 28. Create unforgettable moments with those you love. 29. Have 5 great friends. 30. Become stunningly polite. 31. Unplug your TV. 32. Sell your TV. 33. Read daily. 34. Avoid the news. 35. Be content with what you have. 36. Pursue your dreams. 37. Be authentic. 38. Be passionate. 39. Say sorry when you know you should. 40. Never miss a moment to celebrate another. 41. Have a vision for your life.

42. Know your strengths. 43. Focus your mind on the good versus the lack. 44. Be patient. 45. Dont give up. 46. Clean up your messes. 47. Use impeccable words. 48. Travel more. 49. Read As You Think. 50. Honor your parents. 51. Tip taxi drivers well. 52. Be a great teammate. 53. Give no energy to critics. 54. Spend time in the mountains. 55. Know your top 5 values. 56. Shift from being busy to achieving results. 57. Innovate and iterate. 58. Speak less. Listen more. 59. Be the best person you know. 60. Make your life matter.

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