Saturday, August 31, 2013

The Whole “Model” Theory

A casual weekend coffee conversation with my wife reminded me of a very interesting tête-à-tête I’d come across during my train travel days in Mumbai. The actors were two young boys, hardly out of college. One of them was bragging about his corporate knowledge through all the corrupt practices and how he can read through certain decisions made by the then famous conglomerates.
The other friend, obviously bewildered asked him out of curiosity, “How do you know all this?”
The friend blurted in an “as a matter of fact” tone, “My father’s a judge in corporate law”.
To this, the other guy retorted by saying, “So is my boss. He judges everyone in an instant”.

This exchange, I’d heard almost a decade ago, stands true even today. Not just our bosses, almost everyone, including us have become a “Judge” in our own way. We pass our judgments at every possible occasion. Right from the decisions taken by a cricket captain, to the policies (whatever meager) that are being doled out of the parliament; From the severity of a punishment to a random driver overtaking us on a busy road.

The point is we’re judged as much as we judge. There are many behavior patterns associated with this seemingly normal practice. It starts to hurt when these precarious judgments finds it's way in our decisions.

Data point collection is one thing. Profiling is another. But mixing this with our value system to form an opinion is where it gets dangerous. I’m saying this because to each, his value system is what is CORRECT. Obviously, that’s why one follows it.

This disturbing act has firmly found its footing in our sub-conscious mind. And when we act, there is some part of our brains, trying to process this exact thing from other people’s perspective. The people whom we “think” we know. The objective is to ensure our act is appreciated and that somehow we become a role model. I know of many people who live a strenuous life battling this behavior.

Let’s take GOD as our example. Here, I mean the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar. When he first played against Pakistan at the age of sixteen, he was not carrying a burden. He was out there to do what he enjoyed the most. The more he scored, the more the pressure built. And what is this pressure? It’s the pressure of being a role model, not just in cricket but in all aspects of life. Every little detail of his (for that matter any public figure’s) life gets discussed and judgments are passed on. We may well remember these conversations ourselves, e.g., his marriage to a lady elder to him, his choice of endorsements; his supposed hunger for creating records and finally to his retirement. He was no more enjoying playing cricket but was under severe pressure of being judged by everyone around. We all go through this, albeit with a lower intensity.

Ever wondered why superheroes have an alter ego?

Roelant Oltmans, the interim coach for the Indian Hockey team told his team, “If you feel the pressure, give it to me. I will take it. You just play hockey”. I guess he re-iterated something so basic, that mankind has forgotten. We all need to simply give our pressures to our respective faith (God, Allah, Bhagwaan or ourselves) and focus on ENJOYING LIFE.

I’ve begun this journey. Without judging me, will you join me?

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Don't get carried away. Think - Simple Solutions!

Good morning, you’ve lost 130 strands of hair yesterday. You’ve eaten 1200 calories more than you can digest; forget about your weight-loss targets. Your attempt at singing at a party last night was the most embarrassing thing you could’ve attempted. You spent ₹750 more on an item you purchased yesterday. You could’ve bought it cheaper at X Y Z stores.
Flip
Someone in your neighbourhood was robbed of his life savings.
Flip Flip Flip
Your savings bank account is yielding lesser interest than what your father earned through fixed deposits. You could buy two movie tickets, two popcorns and two colas for ₹500 until last week. Today, you can buy only one each. Forget about a date. Enjoy movies alone.

Imagine being told such things about you and your personal life every morning. How would you feel? What would you do about it after being hammered like this day after day?
But that’s what we all see / read about our city and nation every morning in the news (paper or channel).
It is a proven scientific experiment that if you talk positively to a plant, it accelerates the plant’s growth and produce. Similarly, the plants die if you talk negatively to them.
We are humans. How can we handle so much cynicism being injected into our lives? Awareness is one thing but tabling issues without solutions is dishing out a half-baked pie. It is injurious to health.

In my corporate experience, whenever we setup a process, the first thing we worry about is reviewing and reporting to ensure success and getting back to track if at all we get lost mid-way. There are dashboards created for senior management levels to ensure all departments are working the way they are expected to and that all resources are optimally utilized. Managers have their reports to ensure process efficiency is maintained.

There lies an answer, a simple solution to all this reported mayhem.  The newspapers / news channels, instead of only reporting such depressing events, should focus on reviewing and reporting for the voters. The first page should present the daily dashboards vis-á-vis the targets that were set out. This could be done for all important portfolios including administrative, finance and local police.
e.g., what were the Top 5 promises during elections? What was the given deadline & budget? What is the status and at what cost? Once, the Top 5 are brought to a proper conclusion, move to the next 5 and so on...

Instead of telling the public, in the form of articles, let this be hammered as a dashboard with a rating mechanism on the “Public Servants”. These dashboards should be made mandatory in all newspapers, national and local; English and Vernacular. This is bound to put pressure on them to perform instead of putting pressure on the public to keep questioning them through different acts etc.
Today, there is no measuring mechanism. Each political party simply brags without validation.

We as a nation, I believe, waste a lot of time in writing rules and laws without knowing how to implement them. When we know historically, none of the laws are as effective as they are meant to be.
Yet again, the solutions are simple. Because of too much detailing, most of the times, we miss the goal.

In his campaign, President Obama said “Yes We CAN”
For us Indians, the slogan I can think of is “There’s nothing we CAN’T”!

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Air, Blood & Friends

As a child, apart from our parents, we learn a lot from FRIENDS
The cushion, between doting parents and demanding relatives, is FRIENDS

All our “coming of age” discussions is with FRIENDS
When we have our first crush, we have to share it with FRIENDS

When we “THINK”, we’re in love, to get a smack on our head, we need FRIENDS
Despite the smack, during our first HEARTBREAK, the shoulders belong to FRIENDS

For petty loans, the first call goes to our FRIENDS
Suggestions for complex situations come from our FRIENDS

To enrich our thoughts, to make us smile and to irritate us, we need FRIENDS
Friends need us too, like we need, albeit a few good FRIENDS

So, FRIENDSHIP DAY or otherwise, while we think of all our FRIENDS
Let’s also take a moment to reflect – who we’ve been GOOD FRIENDS to.

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!