I'm in the Martian Orbit

India created history on Wednesday, becoming the first country to successfully get a spacecraft into the Martian orbit on its maiden attempt. It aims to study Mars' surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane with the help of scientific instruments.

Nicknamed 'Mangalyaan', the success of the Mars Orbiter Mission will boost India's five-decade-old space programme. The Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first interplanetary mission. It was launched on November 5, 2013 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with the powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) The mission and was executed in 15 months at a cost of Rs. 450 crore ($74 million), which is a  fraction of the $671 million that NASA of US spent.

As the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi said, our budget of sending Mangalyaan was lesser than the budget of a Hollywood movie. No doubt the Western world is flocking India to get all its work done. What started as a trickle with call centres, body shopping, Business Process Outsourcing has now turned into setting up R&D Centres, Manufacturing hubs, Satellite launches and other high end outsourcing.

India now joins a small club of nations — the U.S., Russia and those in the European Space Agency – to have mastered interplanetary travel, giving it bragging rights over Asian rivals China and Japan whose attempts to get to Mars failed.

Its indeed a proud moment for ISRO and Indian scientists. India has a very successful and reputed Space programme and made a name for itself in the comity of nations in the area of Satellite launches, mission to the Moon and now mission to the Moon. We have shown to the world that we are second to none when it comes to intelligence, science & technology afterall wasnt Aryabhatta from India, the first ancient scientist to explain the spherical rotation of the earth on its axis and also the lunar & solar eclipse.

As our Prime Minister said, its time that we start celebrating the success of this great momentous occasion and felicitate our Scientists and celebrate in the streets just like we do when India won the world cup. In fact this achievement is far bigger than our victories in cricket. So its time the frenzy nation, media & sponsors sit up and recoginise this achievement and honour & felicitate the ISRO scientists.

Modiji’s address to the ISRO scientist was inspiring and am sure will inspire the scientists and the citizens of India to scale up even further reach greater heights. Trust other politicians in the country will strengthen Modi’s hands to do so………. Only time will tell…….

Scheider Electric wins HR Best Practice award at the NHRD Titan HR Showcase 2014 program

I am proud to announce that Schneider Electric India's entry - Campus Program Management Process Innovation for the Best HR Practice at the NHRD Titan HR Showcase 2014 has been recognized and awarded as one of the Top 6 HR Best Practice in the Country.

This award was chosen from amongst 100+ Best HR Practices from among 50 companies country wide. There was a preliminary round held on 23 Aug, where in this Best Practice was chosen to be showcased in the Final round (35 of them) held at the NHRD Titan HR Showcase 2014, program held at the MLR Convention Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore on 19/20 Sep 2014. In all we had around 2000 visitors to this NHRD Titan HR Showcase 2014 program spread over 2 days.

Besides a Trophy, the award carried a Prize of Rs. One lakh worth of Gift Cheques from Gift Big and Titan Industries.

Its indeed a proud achievement for Schneider HR and for the team. This is second year in running that one of our HR initiative has won a HR Best Practice award.

Dr Marshall Goldsmith address @ NHRD Titan HR Showcase 2014 program

We had the privilege of hosting the NHRD Titan HR Showcase 2014 program 19/20^th September at Bangalore. It was indeed a momentous occassion for NHRD Bangalore to host the HR Showcase program and it was heartening & very encouraging for us to see the overwhelming response that we got from Organisations, HR Service Providers, Sponsors, Academia & Research. It was a great team effort under the leadership of Sudheesh and we thoroughly enjoyed organising this event.

We are glad that the participants & visitors enjoyed being part of this program and found it fruitful in participation. We look forward to your continued patronage towards NHRD Bangalore Chapter and in our journey of networking HR Professionals and sharing our thoughts, knowledge & experiences and enriching the HR Community at large.

In all  we had 40 Corporates showcasing their HR Best Practices, 13 Start Ups and 7 Research papers showcased as part of this program. We had around 2000+ visitors visiting the program spread over 2 days.

As part of this program we had invited world renowned Leadership Coach, Marshall Goldsmith  to the Guest of Honour at the NHRD Titan HR Showcase 2014 program conducted by the NHRD Bangalore Chapter to commemorate its Silver Jubilee celebration on the 20^th September 2014.

Marshall Goldsmith has been recognized as the # 1 leadership thinker in the world and  one of the top ten Most-Influential Business Thinkers in the World and the top-ranked executive coach at the 2013 biennial Thinkers50 ceremony in London.

Dr. Goldsmith is the author or editor of 34 books, which have sold over two million copies, been translated into 30 languages and become bestsellers in 12 countries. He has written two New York Times bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – a Wall Street Journal #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman Award for Business Book of the Year.

His address was eagerly awaited for by the audience and he didn’t disappoint.

Be happy now. Not next week, not next month, not next year. Now. The great Western disease we are spreading around the world is “I’ll be happy when......” When I get that BMW, when I get that newhouse, when I get that status. Don’t get so wrapped up looking at what youdon’t have that you miss that, what you do have.

People keep chasing the future, without realizing what they have before them at present and fail to appreciate all the good things that they have got/achieved in the past. He exhorted the participants to “Live in the present and enjoy it.”

Appreciate your friends and family. When you’re 95 years old and you’re on your death bed, do you think you’ll be surrounded by your clients? It’s your friends and family who matter most. Many a great people who have achieved so much (in terms of fame, position & wealth) have had many regrets on their dying bed and have not passed away a happy person. Many of them have lived a lonely life and died a loner. They miss their family and their near & dear ones. They had everything at their disposal but missed the love & affection. Spend time with your near & loved ones and don’t postpone it for a later day.

 If you have a dream, go for it. Want to write a book? Visit Switzerland? Learn to speak Mandarin? Your dream doesn’t have to be big–itcould be one that people think is silly, or just plain nuts. It’s your dream, and you should go for it now because when you’re 75, you may not be able to do it.

All of us are equal in death. We are not going to carry anything with us on our death. Share all what you have with others and don’t just chase wealth for yourself. Live as if each day is your last day.

People spend most of their time – 75% of their time trying to control, what they cannot control. Let go of things that we cannot control with a deep breathe and focus on what we can control. It reminds me of my Father in Law who used to say “what cannot be cured must be endured”. He exhorted us to focus on what we can change that is under our control and not waste our time and stressing ourselves on things that we cannot change because its not under our control.  He gave the example of Bangalore Traffic and how  people fret & fume and get stressed about Bangalore Traffic. But whats the point. We cant change it by stressing & fuming as it is not in our control.

He also exhorted Live for Yourself and not for others. He said follow you heart. 

On the HR front he said, that Organisation Values are mostly in-scripted on plaques and hung on walls and dont really carry a meaning. Its ultimately your values (individual values) that script an Organisation success. 

He also said that Employee engagement will not be a success unless you win over your employees heart. 

All in all it was an inspiring address and truly inspired many in the audience and was certainly one of the best piece of the HR Showcase program. It certainly touched our heart  for me and my son Anish. We thoroughly enjoyed it and will work hard to follow his advise and live in the present, for we do not know how long we will last……..

NHRD Bangalore TITAN HR Showcase 2014 - Winners

It was indeed a momentous occassion for NHRD Bangalore to host the HR Showcase program and it was heartening & very encouraging for us to see the overwhelming response that we got from Organisations, HR Service Providers, Sponsors, Academia & Research. It was  a great team effort under the leadership of Sudheesh and we thoroughly enjoyed organising this event.

We are glad that the participants & visitors enjoyed being part of this program and found it fruitful in participation. We would like to thank every one - Organisations, HR Service Providers, Sponsors, Academia & Research, Media, Volunteers, National Board Members, Past Presidents & EC members and the Bangalore HR Community for having participated in the program and contributing to its sucess. We look forward to your continued patronage towards NHRD Bangalore Chapter and in our journey of networking HR Professionals and sharing our thoughts, knowledge & experiences and enriching the HR Community at large.

Some early pictures shared from my end.

HRShowcase video

Game, set and what a match! Martina Navratilova makes surprise proposal to her partner

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova popped the question to her longtime girlfriend Julia Lemigova in front a packed U.S. Open crowd over the weekend.

The nine-time Wimbledon champ interrupted an interview to get down on one knee, with a standing ovation from the crowd, after Kei Nishikori's stunning upset of Novak Djokovic in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“Please, marry me?” she asked Lemigova. “It's a yes, no, or maybe,” she jokingly added.

The 57-year-old appeared on the screen at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, and the Russian model said yes to rounds of cheers and applause.

Afterwards, Navratilova said, "I have been waiting for the right time to ask Julia to marry me ... I thought this was the right place and the right time to pop the question and thankfully I got a 'yes.'

The couple has been dating for six years.

Its truly a case of the courage of conviction and moral courage and that too, to profess in front of the world audience. This is truly liberalization at its best. Who said that love is supposed to be with the partner of the opposite sex. How many people dare come out in the open and share their true feeling or being scared of being chasticised by the society. Hats off to Navratilova and her partner for their openness and daring to share their feelings in public and not being a hypocrite.

Marriage is truly a contract for sharing of love & affection, companionship and not just a contract for sex or may be there is fun & excitement in sex with the same gender, for not many would have dared to explore............

Fortunate to interact with Dr Pawan Girdharilal Agrawal, CEO of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association - a day to cherish

The  Dabbawala, (one who carries the box), in the Indian city of Mumbai carry and deliver freshly made food from customer’s home in a lunch box (Dabba) and deliver it to offices. It may sound simple, but it’s not. It is actually a highly specialized trade that has evolved in its current form over a century and has become integral to Mumbai’s culture.

It all started about 125 years back when a Parasi banker wanted to have home cooked food regularly in office and gave this responsibility to the first ever Dabbawala. Other people also liked the idea and the demand for Dabba delivery soared.

It was all informal and individual effort in the beginning, but visionary Mahadeo Havaji Bachche saw the opportunity and started the lunch delivery service in its present team-delivery format with 100 Dabbawalas. As the city grew, the demand for dabba delivery grew too. Their forefathers had the vision to create the Dabba coding system that’s going on strong even today.

The Coding system evolved through various stages with time. In the beginning it was simple colour coding. Now Mumbai is a widely spread metro with 3 local train routes. Their coding has also evolved into alpha numeric characters.

There about 5000 in number and deliver approximately 200,000 tiffin boxes every day.  They operate @ six sigma efficiency. Their error rate is one in 16million deliveries. They are 125 years old. Never have gone on strike and no police / court case against them. They earn a maximum  of Rs.15,000/- per month (annualized basis) and their attrition is zero %. A dream for any HR person or for any CEO’s that matter.

We had invited  Dr Pawan Girdharilal Agrawal, CEO of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association to address the Schneiderites as part of our Leadership Series and it was another memorable occassion for all us. He really inspired the 400+ audience and made us sit up and reflect.

I was fortunate to spend some time with him at our office in Whitefield, Bangalore.  A man who globe trots around the world, delivering his lecture on the Mumbai Dabbawala experience, who's interacted with Prince Charles, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Richard Bronson of Virgin Atlantic, Amitabh, Sharukh Khan and all corporate honchos was so simple, very humble, down to earth and was so refreshing to see such a celbrity. He readily mingled with all and patiently posed for photographs with each one of them. The icing on the cake was when he gave away his trade mark Gandhi cap and a tiffin box memento. I was fortunate to be one of them to recieve this and surely will treasure this for long time to come.

It was truly another memorable day that I will cherish for long time to come. 

Elated to have met & recieved a copy of Insanely Simple from Ken Segall, former Creative Director of Apple

I was attending the 17th Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Asia being organised by SSON at the Max Atria, Singapore Exposition Centre, Singapore 1-4 Sep 2014.  

As part of this program, probably the icing on the cake was the BIG IDEA KEYNOTE: Simplicity: The Driving Force in Innovation from Apple’s Former Creative Director, Ken Segell. 

Having worked for 12 years as Steve Jobs’ agency Creative Director, Ken Segall is well acquainted with the power of simplicity. Having played the same role with companies like Intel and Dell, he’s equally familiar with the dangers of complexity. These varied experiences led to Ken’s New York Times Best Seller, Insanely Simple. The man who put the “i” in Apple talks about simplicity as a guiding principal for successful branding, services and problem solving. Being simple is not simple — but it’s the key to winning the hearts of customers and colleagues alike. 

The spectacular success of Apple is well known—but that’s not to say it’s well understood.

How is it that Apple could so consistently out think and out market monoliths who possess greater resources or market share? The answer is surprisingly uncomplicated.

But the biggest surprise and take away for me was when I was fortunate to receive an autographed copy of his book Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success. It was probably one of the best moments of this program and also a day I will long remember and cherish and the few minutes I had with him one-on one. It certainly made my day and made my trip to Singapore to attend this program worth all its penny. 

He was so simple and humble and mingled with every one and took time to talk to many of us and painstakingly sign and autograph his book. Thanks to Ken for presenting me an autographed book. It will surely be a a prize treasure in my library. 

The BOOK

Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success

To Steve Jobs, Simplicity was a religion. He built a company based on its principles, in which the complexities of traditional business were simply not tolerated. Simplicity was also his most powerful weapon—a means of humbling category leaders once thought to be invincible.

Insanely Simple is a fascinating read for anyone curious about life in Steve Jobs’s world. It’s an even more compelling read for anyone who wishes to leverage the power of Simplicity to propel their own organization—or their own career.

The ten elements of Simplicity

Insanely Simple explains the ten elements of Simplicity that drive Apple’s success, illustrating each with previously untold stories. It takes you inside Steve Jobs’s world to show you how he enforced the rules of Simplicity—sometimes with humor, sometimes with brutality, but always with amazing success.

Ken Segall has literally captured lightning in a bottle. Insanely Simple reveals the secret of Steve Jobs’s success with such clarity, even we non-geniuses can make use of it. Ken shows us how to cut through the cobwebs of fuzzy thinking, bureaucracy and mediocrity, and clearly see what's most essential—and therefore most important.

Surely a must read for any one and understand how Steve Jobs and his team relentlessly drove innovation but at the same time kept it simple. Thanks to Ken Segall for revealing it all in a very simple manner.......

Watch his video :

Insanely Simple: The Obsession that Drives Apple's Success

"Hollistically Skilled Employees Result in Enhanced Business" on 16th Sep at Bangalore.

Invited to be on a panel discussion "Hollistically Skilled Employees Result in Enhanced Business" on 16th Sep at Bangalore. This program is being organised by Information Mapping India. Looking forward to the panel discussion in company of leading L&D leaders of Bangalore.

http://www.informationmapping.com/in/resources/l-d-event-bangalore

Wellness Quotient

Robin Sharma says there is only a incremental difference between a millionaire and an average individual in terms of happiness. In fact he goes on to say that many a millionaire’s are less happy than an average individual.

However everyone in this world hankers after money and other materialistic pleasures in the hope of increasing their happiness. However many a times we have heard people say that they are “not happy” and if you ask them what happiness means, they suddenly wake up and don’t know what it really is.

It is said that man is a social animal. He cannot survive in loneliness and needs to be in the company of fellow human beings for his survival. He is in constant company of his family members, lives most of his waking hours in the company of his office colleagues and socializes with his close circle of friends in the society occasionally. For him to be happy he needs to be happy on this entire front so that he has a well rounded happiness. This is what I call as “wellness quotient”

Well than what really is the wellness quotient.

It reflects the state of happiness on these fronts:

• Personal
• Social
• Professional

A person may be very happy/successful one or many of these fronts. It’s rare to find a person who is happy / successful on all these fronts or equally happy / successful on all these fronts.

Personal

• Health
• Self esteem / self confidence
• Value / Character
• Relationship with
• Parents
• Spouse
• Children
• Education

Social

• Number of friends
• Circle of influence (type of friends)
• Relationship with friends
• Reputation
• Status in society

Professional

• Advancement in career
• Position
• Wealth creation
• Influence
• Job itself (doing what you like)

Wellness Quotient 

There are many instances in history where we have found people who are highly successful in Professional life but have fared very poorly in their personal life and have ended their life in tragic circumstances. There are very many people who are extremely happy and contented in their personal life but not so successful in their professional life. There are very many instances where in we have heard that “he is a tiger at home but a mouse in public” – it means he has a very strained relationship at home but a very successful relationship in the society / professional life.

One needs to learn to balance on all these fronts and it’s not going to be easy. However what could help is that we are aware of our wellbeing on all these fronts and consciously working towards building a well rounded happiness and building a good “wellness quotient”.

“Maybe the truth is, there's a little bit of loser in all of us. Being happy isn't having everything in your life be perfect. Maybe it's about stringing together all the little things.”
― Ann Brashares, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Therefore wellness to a person means achieving the overall balance in life in all the fronts (personal, social and professional). It includes eating well, sleeping well, moving, well breathing well setting personal health and wellness goals, keeping stress at a level that works, having positive relationships, and doing all this in a purposeful way.

Purposeful way doesn’t just happen a person have to decide and then pursue it. Often the terms wellness and health are understood in a same way which is incorrect. Health is a medical term based on your temperature, blood pressure. There are no laboratory tests for wellness. You know when you're well. You feel good, you're at peace.

Detailed description of these fronts:-

· PERSONAL

Personal; more of one’s self, one s health, family, knowledge, self respect, values & beliefs that one holds.

WHO has defined Health "a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living? Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities."

Self confidence and self esteem cannot be described as the different name of the similar concept but they are closely related to one another. Self esteem is evaluating or appraising oneself according to the belief and the values that one holds whereas self confidence is the measurement of beliefs about own judgment, skills and abilities. This includes the level of future performance one expects from oneself.

Value and character are two distinct part of one’s personality which defines one self. Values, principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life (Oxford University).

Character is the consistency between what you say and what you actually do; it’s more of putting the ethics, moral and values into action. It defines one and what people do when no one is around it can create or break ones reputation.

Relationships are most important assets of the personal self. It emphasizes an emotional bond, a connection, association or involvement with people. Relationship with parents (blood relation), spouse and child is among the most tentative and close personal relations which one bores in his lifetime.

When we take personal as one of parameter for overall wellness without ones individual wealth of knowledge and experienced learning on particular and specific subjects or events i.e. his education, it would be inadequate to lead a purposeful life.

All these parameter greatly influence ones level of happiness / wellness in different course of his life time. A person can be happy or unhappy in his personal life if he is in conflict with one of this above mentioned areas.

SOCIAL

According to Roly Russell, an interdisciplinary scientist at the Sand hill Institute for Sustainability and Complexity in Grand Forks, British Columbia, social structures (human capital) and nature are more influential in determining happiness than financial capital (income).When we talk about ones social life it indicates the number of friends one has, different types of friends they are with, the quality time they spend with the friends, the influence of the friends in their lives and the influence one exert in their friends life. Dr. Edward Diener the psychologist from University of Illinois says social skills and close interpersonal ties make us the happiest – in other words making time for family and friends.

“The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.”
-Socrates. Reputation is in the hands of others. One can’t control that. The only thing that can control is the character. “Character is what you are. Reputation is what people think you are.” -Henry H. Saunderson.

Therefore it can be said that the reputation one achieve in his life time through his deeds exerts influence in his social life as well as in his professional life. It defines him among his friends and colleagues, it can speak about the power and status he carries with himself.

When we speak of social life the status one has in the society plays a very important role in achieving successes in the social life. According to sociologists, status describes the position a person occupies in a particular setting or within a group. It is also affected by a number of factors such as occupation, wealth, education, and family background. One can earn their social status by their own achievements, which is known as achieved status. Alternatively, one can be placed in the stratification system by their inherited position, which is called ascribed status. Social status has had varying degrees of importance. Those with more power, or those with the ability to influence others, have a higher social status.

· PROFESSIONAL

When we speak of profession, it reflects what a person dose for his livelihood. It includes his entire work life including his job profile, his experience, his career growth and advancement, position and status and autonomy including the reporting relationship. A person gets immense pleasure when he achieves all these criteria in his professional life.

Success Indicators

Truth of life

How very true...... hope we realise it before its too late..........

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

How about Teaching the Under Privileged

Do you have a passion for Teaching. Do you have a desire to give it back to the society and Teach the under-privileged. Well, here is an opportunity to achieve both.

Azim Premji Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that works to improve quality and equity in school education across the country. Our vision is to significantly contribute to a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society.

The Fellowship is a 2-year full-time program, where you will get to understand and experience the realities of the Indian school education system, on the ground. It includes 22 months of field work based at any one of our District Institutes, combined with class work to conceptualize your experiences.

You should have 2 to 6 years of work experience, with a post-graduate or a professional degree in any discipline. We welcome people from a variety of backgrounds. What is important is your willingness to explore the social sector and the desire to contribute.

The Fellowship carries a monthly stipend of Rs. 27,000.

For more information and to apply online, please log on to
www.azimpremjifoundation.org/fellowship OR Call (Toll Free):1800 419 0201

For more information and to apply online, please log on to
www.azimpremjifoundation.org/fellowship

OR Call (Toll Free):1800 419 0201

Lets "Call it a Day"

How often do we postpone an activity in our personal life. Be it  vacation, purchase of a car, purchase of a house, pursuing a hobby, going to a gym, stop drinking etc. We normally tend to postpone it to the future. Instead what do we do, continue to slog like a donkey, chase money and stock them or grow them (if you are wise & lucky), burn yourself out and miss out of all the pleasures in life. You also end up neglecting your family, not being with your children when they need most, burn up and neglect your health and end up a vegetable.

Suddenly you wake up one day and say to your self “What am I doing, where am I going !!!”. Its too late and when you are ready to enjoy the fruits of labor, you realize you cant really enjoy. You don't have the energy, you don't have the health (hypertension, diabetes, acidity, fatigue, arthritis, anxiety, depression etc), your children have grown up and wont have time for you, you have emotionally moved a long distance from your spouse and lost out the ability to relax, sit back and enjoy life.

We assume that we are all going to live upto 90 years and healthy and a happy one. We take our life for granted or in our anxiety to save for the retired life we miss out on enjoying our productive part of life. We rarely live for today. We generally live for tomorrow.

A colleague of mine was living a normal life and attending to work till about a couple of months ago. Suddenly he disappeared from office and were told that he is sick. He had developed persistent fever and later on diagnosed with blood cancer. In a span of 8 weeks he died. The sad part of it, he was only 37 years old. I remember he used to slog it out in office, sitting late, working 6 days a week and hardly on leave. All of a sudden he is no more.

Recently another colleague of mine who was Heading a very noble Function, aged around 42 years was attending a Training program and collapsed during the program. He was rushed to the Hospital but of no use. He passed away leaving behind a home maker and wonderful daughter.

Another friend of mine is around 40 years old and is heading a Business Unit of a large Multinational Company in India, earning a huge salary, globe trotting and in a enviable position (in the eyes of the society). He used to slog day and night, Saturdays and really stretched himself far to reach this position. When he is ready to enjoy the fruits of labor, he is restricted because he has developed diabetes, acidity, starting to grow bald, diminishing eyesight, showing signs of arthritis and living a life full of restrictions. He is a typical example of

When I have the TIME, I don’t have the MONEY

When I have the MONEY, I don’t have the TIME

When I have MONEY & TIME, I don’t have HEALTH to enjoy

Hence it is important that we learn to balance the need for a life in the future and life in the present. How long do we chase success, chase money only to add more ZERO’s in your bank balance, how much more are you going to amass wealth for your children because for most people they will not be able to reap the fruits of their labour.

Its easier said than done. When do we put a full stop, when do we pull the string, when do we say “its time” before it becomes “time up”.

Managing HR during uncertain times

The world is a “Global Village” and no one is insulated from the ripples in the Global Economy. It is often said that “if America sneezes, the rest of the world will catch a cold”. Much of   HR professionals in the APAC & Middle East region must be aligned to the Global economy and keep their eyes and ears open to whats happening around Global Economies. Offcourse there will be more focus on the new and emerging economies viz. BRIC countries and HR will have to play a major role in these economies to help capitalize the potential and global interests being shown. An international exposure to get an international perspective will help these HR professionals. Keeping in constant touch with their counterparts in other countries will help. Understanding the diversity and culture in other countries is a must to be successful in this era.

Its often said, that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Will HR turn out be tough.

Well HR plays a pivotal role in helping companies cope up with the downturn. While the top line is stagnant or moving downwards, companies have started tightening their belt and reducing their bottomline or Operating Expenditure. It is here that HR plays a pivotal role in helping containing costs of operations. HR needs to understand the Business dynamics, the Business levers that drive Profit & Loss and initiate strategies in line with the resilience program. We can no longer feign ignorance about business. HR professionals need to have “business acumen” and actively participate in business strategies.

I think this time around HR professionals are more experienced to manage such downturns. The challenge would be how do we predict such downturns and proactively initiate HR programs to minimize such shocks in future. Now that it is well known that the Global Economy goes thro a business cycle lasting about 8-10yrs (highs & lows), we need to be better prepared for the future downturns.

Dave Ulrich has defined the role of HR professionals :

             Strategic Business partner

             Employee Champion

             Expert Administrator

             Change Agent

HR professionals will have to don all these coats and effectively play these roles in any situations.

HR activities could be broadly divided into two:

             Transactional

             Strategic

We will have to master the Transactional activities, bring in greater efficiency, speed of delivery, reliability and at a lower cost to ultimately drive Employee Delight and enable Business to meet its stated objectives. This is key to survival during down turn.

Strategic activities are key to driving competitive advantage. As CK Prahalad and Gary Hamel have said, that “its people who fuel the journey of success”, they are the biggest competitive advantage any company will have. It is therefore imperative that we continue to focus on developing the competency of our people and build Organisational Capabilities that will not only sustain competition but will also help to beat Competition.

I believe that there is an opportunity in every calamity and its up to our hands to seize this opportunity and showcase the true value that HR can add to business and help organizations surmount any challenge.

Tenets of Life - my Fathers advise to me

Well we have all heard of Polonious advice to his son. Here is my father late Dr. Rajagopal’s Tenets of Life advise to me……

    1.  Wake up, Its already morning

    2.  Have your bath & come quick

    3.  Take your breakfast. It is ready

    4.  Time for school. Hurry up. Don’t run for the bus be careful 

    5.  If the school is closed come back quicker, don’t waste your time there

    6.  Play for a while in the evening

   7.  Its time for German class. You must get ready

   8.  If its difficult to get back by bus, come walking. Walking saves time

   9.  Supper is ready. It is served by eight o clock

   10.           Don’t make too many friends. Have a few trusted and good friends, who are studious

   11.           There is no excuse for idleness

   12.           Don’t engage in gossip & spreading rumours

   13.           Work hard, success is assured

   14.           God be with you always.

Ive tried to follow as much as possible. What ever my success today or what ever I am, its because of having followed these Tenets of Life from my father. So very true and valid even for today and in this generation. Timeless advise, worth the weight in gold………