The Peter Pan Syndrome

This past weekend I had the opportunity to do a flash back and catch up with faces and memories from 15 to 20 years ago. It was a reunion of my alma mater in Chennai and I had motivated myself to go there. It was a blast and I had a terrific time. As one of the folks commented, I made sure I had a good time to ensure a good Return on Investment. Even as I was talking to all the people I knew and laughing with people I did not, I was making a disturbing observation.

I was part of the crowd that had refused to grow up. There were those in the crowd, my batch mates, seniors, juniors who had actually grown up. They had come with their families, their grown up or growing up children, all very nice prim and proper. They were acting their middle ages. And here I was and thank god, a few more of my types who were refusing to grow up. We acted as it was our final year in college.

After all the ethanol was oxidized in the system, I went into huge introspection on whether it was right on me to refuse to grow up. It was very funny that I actually felt that some of the people I knew had aged. Even though they were younger to me, I felt somehow that I was young and they had just run away and become old! It was a very odd feeling. Was life slipping away and we were just not running with it? We had decided to stay back and refuse to move! We were having way too much fun when the others were getting older and may be wiser?

As a friend of mine and I were discussing over a session of some excellent wine the following night, we were in the middle overs of a fifty over match. Right now there is consolidation. Will we win? Will we meet the target? Then again what is the target? I guess we have to wait for the slog overs to find out. Hopefully the match is not rained out! And till that time we will have to rotate the strike and farm runs. Every run does count, doesn't it?

A Process for Fostering Innovation - An Approach Paper

In a brief moment of inspiration, I had penned this article down. And now as I am in a position to practice it, I actually find that the process works! So I have shared this for people to give it a read and if they like it, give it a shot

The Need for Innovation
One of the prime motivations for the IT industry to set shop in India was wage arbitrage. The difference between the hourly wages of an employee in one part of the world as compared to another drew work in an osmotic way from more expensive parts to India The digital world made it possible for the benefits of such rendered services to be experienced by customers globally. In fact, the cost factor continues to remain as one of the major drivers of IT outsourcing today.
Companies that are moving up the value chain, improve their competitiveness by working on process efficiencies. However, as in the case of design service industry, the process used for execution are pretty much standardized and now efficiencies are increased by the smart use of IT tools.
Even in industries where there is no electronic transfer of knowledge possible as in chemical or biotech industry, the labor arbitrage model has been operational. While material cost is the same globally, the people cost is the significantly lower especially at the cadre level. At best, process improvements are made to existing process to improve the benefits.

Thus, the benefits from offshoring are obtained through:¹

1. Labor arbitrage
2. Process Improvements

But there is more to gain by working in a lower cost country, than pure labor arbitrage. For this, new paradigms have to be explored.
These would be,

3. New and fundamentally different processes for achieving the same results of the older processes
4. Developing completely new solutions that would not be possible in a “high cost” country

It is in these areas that small companies should seek to leverage. These companies are typically not tied by the bureaucracy of a larger company and hence can move with speed. They should be looking at newer ways to differentiate themselves. These companies should be willing to take the bigger risk to move away from the well-trodden path and in turn get a bigger return for the investment dollar.

For any company to do things in a different manner, they have to innovate. Only if companies innovate can they move to look at different processes or completely new concepts.

In this approach paper, a model for innovation will be discussed.

2.0 Creating a Framework for Innovation

While many organizations may want to innovate, the process of innovation cannot happen overnight. For companies to use innovation not only as a buzz word but as reality, it has to be embedded in the culture of the company. In the table shown below, some of the indicators that emerge which differentiate innovating organizations from regular organizations are captured.

Table 1: Comparison of Operating Organization vs Innovating Organization³

Operating Organization	Innovating Organization
Creating today’s revenue	Creating tomorrow’s revenue
Steps are predefined	Steps are undefined
Steps are mostly linear	Steps are mostly non-linear
Single route for a result	Multiple routes for a result
Driven by functional teams	Driven by cross-functional teams
Reworking is a waste	Reworking is part of learning
Clear, shared goals	Unclear, conflicting goals
Easy to measure	Forecasting is almost impossible
Rich historical data	Poor historical data
Short cycle time	Long cycle time
Many common causes	Many special causes
Traditional players and roles	New players and roles
Doing things right	Doing right things

Thus, in order to be an innovation driven organization, it is important to look at it in terms of a maturity model. Figure 2.1 outlines a 3 level maturity model for achieving this state. The basis of the maturity model is that it is important to have an established framework of people processes that affect the culture of the company, before change is introduced. Any change can be established only if there is an awareness of the baseline.

Figure 2.1: A three level maturity model to build a innovating organization

The various levels and what they entail are listed below.

Level	Description2,3,4,5
Level1: Manage	Objective: Set-up and management of the following core people processes Recruitment Compensation Training & Development Performance Management Communication Work Environment
Level2: Facilitate	Objective: Tuning processes to foster innovation Recruitment for Innovation Compensation for Innovation Training & Development for Innovation Performance Management for Innovation Communication for Innovation Participatory Culture Leadership driving innovation
Level3: Innovate	Objective: Sustaining Innovation Organization Structure & Work Design for Innovation Empowered Workgroup Development Measures of Innovation

The advantage of using a Maturity based approach is that progression from one level of maturity to another level can be tracked. Just as a building cannot be built without a foundation, it is successful practice of each level of maturity can ensure that the cultural change introduced can be sustainable. This approach has been used by software organizations and can be adapted to develop a framework for innovation

In Level 1, people processes that are essential for all organizations are implemented. This ensures that there is a framework of people processes. It assures the stakeholders that the organization can embark on a cultural change process.

In Level 2, all these processes are tuned for Innovation. For example, if the goal of the organization is “Endless Innovation”, then is the recruitment process tuned so that people are recruited who can fit that requirement of the company⁶. Are the compensation policies so designed such that innovation is rewarded? There are two additional process areas that have been added. These are Participatory culture and Leadership driving Innovation.

Participatory Culture encourages team participation and also provides for an open discussion of ideas. In addition to this, the leadership dimension for driving innovation is also looked at. How are employees trained to be leaders of innovation i.e. how can they facilitate the process of innovation? How can employees constantly challenge their teams to question the status quo? How can they ensure participation from all members of the team?

Thus, Level 2 the support mechanisms for driving innovation are in place.

In Level 3, the existing processes are integrated so that innovation can be practiced. Towards that organization structure, team structure, and how work is being carried out should be looked at. Also, measurements to measure innovations for the organization has to be introduced so that the journey is sustained

3.0 Conclusion
Building and achieving innovating teams is a process and a journey. It can function only if there is an environment that is not risk averse and allows mistakes. Building and driving this environment to foster a culture of “learning from mistakes” is the primary responsibility of leadership. Embedding this leadership in all employees of the organization is going to be the biggest challenge that these small companies are going to face in the future.

4.0 References

1. Personal notes from discussions with Dr. Sridhar Mitta, CTO and MD of e4e labs on maturity levels of outsourcing 2. People Capability Maturity Model from SEI
3. “Embedding Innovation in Workplace” December 2005 Review, Corporate Leadership Council
4. “Encouraging and Assessing Innovation”. October 2004, Corporate Leadership Council
5. “Developing an Innovative Team”, September 2004, Corporate Leadership Council
6. Course Material of “Strategic Human Resources” by Prof Wayne Brockbank, University of Michigan

R - E - S - P - E - C - T

I received a call a few days back where one of my Gurus wanted me to reflect on that rising lack of Respect in the society. There is a corresponding increasing in intolerance. You almost see a news item everyday on people actually getting whacked and killed because of some road rage or the other. Today there was a guy killed because his vehicle hit a parked car in Bangalore. Everyone seems to be blaming the society at large.

Organizations are in some terms society in a microcosm which operate with arguably tighter rules. How can we foster respect in organizations such that there is a culture of mutual respect that comes in. After working for about 4 varied settings over the last 15 years here are some thoughts that I had.

But before I get into those it is critical that there is more background about the type of companies that I worked in. The first was a university lab setting in the United states, the second was a multinational (both in the US and then in India), the third was a Indian Behemoth, the fourth (my current) is a start-up. Each of these settings has a unique culture and I was able to observe in close quarters how respect was built or broken down.

Lets see where respect is not going to get built. When each leader comes in to office with the thought that they are going to war. They need to kill or hurt someone else to survive. I have been in meetings where one department head called another in his group meeting as a Mentally Retarded Kid...MRK for short. Group meetings used to happen with this gentleman referred to us MRK and everyone had a chuckle to offer in return.

When each leader comes into office not knowing which way the boss man will swing today, respect for other colleagues is not going to happen. When companies are one-person shows, and the rest are merely rubber stamps, there is no way an individual is going to get respect.

Respect is not going to happen when the leadership is content mouthing big words such as process and does not walk the talk.

If we were to create a company where respect for the individual is part of the culture, it has to start at the top. It is all about leadership. Whatever the leader thinks personally about an individual, if the leader sinks into the muck by expressing his thoughts he is going to pull the organization with him down. A true leader has to have his or her game face on whenever they talk about people or teams. At no point of time can disappointment at the performance or action of a group or individual be expressed in disparaging terms.

Respect for the individual is also bent when the leadership is seen to be impartial and culture of back-stabbing is avoided. The leadership and HR have a critical role to play here. Everyone must be given to understand that this is not a knock-out championship in progress but rather coexistence to create higher value.

Human resources must always act by encouraging a positive behavior but more importantly nipping the negative thoughts in the bud. I think respect in companies get built when knowledge based leadership is recognized and consistent performance following the value system of the company is rewarded. Rewarding good performance that is a product of behavior outside the value system is NOT going to build respect. There was the highest scientific honor named after an Indian Nobel reward given out in this company to an individual that ignited scorn and disrespect of the system.

Even when HR which is supposed to keep its ear close to the ground and in some sense gathers intelligence on the happenings, the interactions have to be positive. The climate of the company where there is a lot of freedom to operate and failure is not regarded as the end of life seems to build an environment of trust and mutual respect.

End of the day, I don't think I have said anything new. But the actions of the leadership and HR have to be above board and based on a value system. Organization that practice value systems in a humane manner are healthy communities that foster respect. More such organizations would ensure that this is translated to the community.

Flash and back

It really did happen to me. A complete cinematic flashback! I swear it did.
I was driving on Ramasami Salai in West KK Nagar in Chennai this morning. When for a fleeting eternal second, I was transported to the time when I pedalled my red Hero cycle to school. From some remote corner of my brain, a neuron decided to party and psyche me out!
I think this is happening because of the confusion Chennai puts me through. May be it is a neural overload and the brain has said "Screw it". All the places I drove around this weekend looked so familiar and yet they were just not the same. Be it the school I studied or the area I grew up in.
I can still see the Majestic Ashok Pillar, but that is about it. All the places that form part of my memory of a childhood are getting erased very fast.
Sometimes I do wish that I was part of some quaint little town that never changes! But not Chennai! You can feel the energy of change even on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I was crossing my school when the naughty neuron decided to bamboozle me. You can literally see the my past being overwritten by someone else's present! But that is a good thing I suppose! Signs of progress, I rationalize. Of course, I do feel good that 20 years down the road when someone else drives by, he or she is going to have a flashback as they look at their vanishing past!

The legacy of the Elephant God

Vinayaka Chaturthi came and went. And as it did go by, the religious and the not so religious living in the North Bangalore area decided to bid farewell to the Elephant God in style. So the toxic paint coated Ganesha was taken dipped in a small tank inside Sankey Tank. And they all went home to return to their clean existence.
Poor Ganesha rotted and rotted and rotted! The pool in which he was soaked changed from Green to Black. It was bad. I could literally count some 5 dozen diseases waiting to be unleashed!
And to make matters worse, the caretakers for this morning walkers paradise, decided to pump the crappy water to the main tank. So this morning when I went walking, I saw a bottle of Bisleri floating towards me! Lays chips was hanging around! The whole tank had a sheen of the black goo floating around. We take something nice, as in the Sankey Tank, and with a vengance destroy it in the name of God. Why do we do this to ourselves...I don't understand. I am alrady dreading next year Vinayaka Chaturthi. More people, more poisonous Ganeshas.
And all this as a mark of respect to the most huggable, benevolent of the Gods! We must be crazy!

The Silent Killer

Not to get too dramatic or anything. But this is an issue that keeps bothering me and is not going away. Of course, I have not done anything that would make me proud. You see, I too am part of the problem!

For too long, there are too many of us who are part of the famed silent majority. We do not do anything. We think that things will take care of itself. Mad people moving around killing in the name of religion, usurp power in the name of democracy, strike in the name of language, we watch. We wait. We think the problems can be wished away. It does not really affect my roti, kapda or makan, does it? I do it very well, asking the question that is! Unfortunately, there are a whole lot of me, the silent majority out there. We are the rot that kills the tree! We are the cancer that eats the body. We are a problem for this country and civilization is general. You think we don't know it? Of course we do! So what are we going to do about it. We will wait watch! What else!

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Leave Santh Alone!

I was surfing channels the other day after the Kochi One Day hara-kiri. What made me stop and puke was the following comment on the NDTV voice over. The story was on Sreesanth, the current bad boy of Indian cricket. The reporter had the guts to make a statement that went something like "...Sreesanth's parents would be unhappy with him." I wondered whether the commentator was talking about this young man Sreesanth or some high school kid who copied in a test!

Every channel you see, and every newspaper you read is ranting and raving about the bad boy. How can he do this? How can be misbehave? My Re. 1 for these experts. SHUT UP! Let him be! Enough of going around with these good boy routines.

I suggest that they take all the attention from his antics and focus on his game. He gave 64 runs for crying out loud! Including 5 runs from a wide in the last ball! Let us focus on performance as in the game and not the theaterical kind. If the guy consistently delivers and does his thing then I am okay. Cricket can take these colorful characters. Instead of focusing on his game they are focusing on everthing else! And he can slip by with poor peformance.

So my two cents, leave Sreesanth alone! Let him play, if doesn't make him pay!

Why Doordarshan should stop cricket telecast

I am watching India fold up without much of a fight against Australia. There is no big deal in this. As all of us know this happens. And I am sure there are other games that India will do well or may be not. This does not matter.

What matters is the abysmal state of cricket telecast. I am talking about the one day series of course. Doordarshan is borrowing its feed from Neo sports and adding its 'masala'. I don't know how good the Neo sports telecast is. Looking at some of the commentators I am not too sure. However, Doordarshan is what we get where we stay in Bangalore. So we are stuck with it. Their fourth umpire show is what fills in between breaks. The only sane person in that whole mix is Anjum Chopra. She is concise and knows what she is talking. The rest are disasters who should be consigned to the dust bin.

The commentary takes the cake. Not because they don't talk. They talk total crap. The difference between a good commentary and a crappy one is whether the commentary is on an emotional (primal) level or on an intellectual level. Good commentators mix both well. They enjoy their job and at the same time give us knowledge and things we did not know. They talk strategy. DD's commentators start the whine engine. They watch a cricket match as if my mother was watching! They whine, moan, cry. Anything but commentary! If the game has to spread and people have to learn there has to be some kind of training school that these guys have to go to before they touch the mike. Of course, what I say here would be negated by the millions of rupees that is made in sponsorship. As long as the bean counters are happy, who cares who watches and who comments. Maybe we will have a cow coming to comment! Mooo power to that!

Buzz in Burma

The last few days we in India have been assaulted by the fight for freedom that the Buddhist monks are leading in Burma. And all India is doing is wait and watch which way the wind will blow. Wise men of all color are talking about how India is engaging Burma with her interests in mind.

The little lessons that I have learned so far tell me that you have to watch out as you make a deal with the devil. It may be for India's commercial gain that we are standing back and watching. It is sad that while the foundations of our country, the very air and space that gives me the freedom to feel this way is being taken out at our neighbors and we are doing nothing. Buddhist monks fight, and we watch. We are worried about China, we are worried about the Junta. Newspapers write about how Europe asking India to do something about this is being two faced! As per these esteemed journalists, Europe did not do anything for so long. By induction, then they seem to suggest that India should do nothing.

End of the day, when all the wise men go to sleep, oil or no oil, fighting extremists or no extremists, we need to ask whether we can tolerate such behavior in our neighborhood. India which should be the beacon of democracy is shying away. That is the wrong direction. If there is anything we should be doing is standing up for freedom all over the world. Sad to see that we are competing with China on who will win the oil well when the cities are burning.

Nero anyone?

Bluff Masters

Last Sunday we decided to do an impromtu trip on the Scorpio to visit Shivasamduram. Asia's oldest power generation station is present here. Kaveri, the boon in the months with lot of rains and the bane in the months of no rains of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu falls down majestically here in two falls Bhara Chukki and Gagana Chukki.

We packed in lunch and drove. I thought 120 km could be covered in 2 hours. Little did I realize that 1 hour from Silicon Valley of India, you were really into the Silicon. There were stretches on the state and national highways where the road just disappeared! As the others were breaking and creaking about in the second gear, I thanked the Scorpio and screamed away leaving behind more than a small pile of dust! The falls were beautiful to see. But that is that. There is really nothing else! In a place like US, even a small trickle would be celebrated and local economy would be booming. Here we are with nature, and we had abysmal facilities. No rest rooms. One really has to answer the call of the nature in the nature. From dust to dust they say, it is water to water here :).

The Gagana Chukki side (I think) is where they are making some attempts to set up a viewing point etc. The other side (Bhara Chukki) is left open. It is dangerous as hell especially if you take kids.

At the risk of offending the red brigade, India needs to capitalize on these gold mines and develop them. These can lead to local economies developing and create employment in the area. When would be a day when we would have a thrilling boat ride to the bottom of the falls like the Maid of the Mist in the Niagra? When would we have roads (forget the good roads part for now) to these treasures so that more people can access them and when would we create clean environment for everyone to enjoy Bluff without the smell?

The most exciting part of the whole trip was the tense 5 s stand-off I had with a monkey trying to mess around with our bags. I was the hero who stood up for them before my kids. Little did they know Nature was beckoning me urgently at the sight of the monkey snarling at me!

Bliss at Bluff!

Amazing Game!!

People talk about great games! I think every generation has one. My generation had their great game today. India winning the 20-20 cricket world cup! What an amazing game!

It was wonderful to see these guys not lose cool and win one of the best finals that has been played. I think the game was a good tight one and not a slam bang contest. A very tight final with the game swinging from India to Pakistan and back. Finally, something had to give and it was poor Misbah! So close for Pakistan yet so far. India held their cool and made it happen.

A lot of lesson on team play, self belief and never give up...never ever give up.

20-20 is the future of cricket. I am happy that India won. Now we know that this is going to be the way cricket is going to be played in India.

Bring it on! Lets play!

Much Ado about the Man in Blue

All this noise that is being made about Ram and his existence. There are people denying he ever was there. There are people who talk as though they meet him everyday! And we are stuck in the middle of this escalating madness. Each one calling the other person a liar. Who is going to call the bluff is the real question!

End of the day Ram is helping...He seems to be a benevolent God. For the Grand Old man of Tamilnadu, he is giving the opportunity to brush aside all the other issues. The divine one is the carpet below which we will hide the family rule and other pesky issues. is this the final flicker we wonder? Or are there going to be other non-issues that are going to come out.

To the other old man, Ram is the walking stick. Injecting new life into a dead snake for him to flog again. In the days of increasing petrol prices and increasing emissions, get set for a rath yatra!

Then of course, there are the comrades. Desperately trying to get back to discussing their extinct philosophy. Talking against Ram or the Sethu makes them feel better.

So everyone in our age old tradition of obfuscation, is walking away from the real issue. Do we need to dredge the Sethu or not? I have been watching it from the periphery and hence I cannot really comment. But I do feel that meddling with something like this make not be the best way to go about. Is there a concrete case for the canal? I cannot seem to get it. Why the urgency? Why can't we focus on other issues...God knows we have millions of them. Why can't half the energy of the Grand old man go into linking the rivers of his once water rich state? Why can't the Yatra specialist just retire? Why can't the red knight wake up and save us from living his nightmare? Ram only knows!!!

Which of course leaves us to the aside on whether Ram exists? Does it matter? Really, I love the Ramayana for the story, for the imagery and the characters. Rajaji's Ramayana is so lucid and simple that you want to read it again and again. Chinmaya's Bala Ramayana that I grew up reading had me in raptures. My moms rendition of the Ramayana to the children as the refuse to eat has me in splits. Whether Ram exists or not, some of the lessons of the tale is what I think we should remember.

May be at the end of it all, Ram does exist through the values that we practice. Being a considerate and good human being. Ensuring that the people he rules enjoy Ram Rajya. May be that is a issue that we should have the Grand Old Men debate!

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I like this 20-20 thing!

As I write this down, India is playing its knock-out match. In all probablity they will get knocked out. India scored 150 odd. I think their bowling is the weak link. Already given away 11 runs in the first over!!

Anyway this doesn't matter. I like this 20-20. I like it because of what it can be. It need not be just blind hitting. There is so much strategy in the game. I hope to see this come out in the next few years. And the two leagues in India are really going to help the game. It is the future my friends.

Here are two things that will make it awesome:

1. Television and Commentry: For crying out loud it is not a test match or even an one day. Can we have some exciting commentators please. And not all ex cricketers are commentators. Someone please tell the television people that. There has to be a complete rethink of how they want to package it and show it. On the ground there are 30,000 and they have a great time. There are 1 billion outside and we are getting a crappy commentry.Rethink smart people. This is not even pyjama cricket, this is bermudas!
2. Bowling: This is going to develop. You are going to get some amazing bowlers who can pitch the ball where you want to all the time. That is going to equalize cricket. Make it even stevens.

Can't wait for the first match in Bangalore!!!

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Processes and Organizations

Any organization I see flaunts a process that they follow. Be it a company that makes software for others, kitchens, airports, and shop that sell lights, all claim that they are certified in one thing or the other. But a question that I often ask myself, coming out of a stinking toilet at an ISO certified airport, do they really know what they are talking about?

They shout out of the rooftops, "ISO, CMM, CMM-I, PCMM, Six Sigma." And you go in, you see the same thing again and again. The person who meets the customer, the person you interact with have no clue about the process they claim to follow. Don't get me wrong, I am all for the process. I guess I am a little puzzled at how companies ram it through and claim that all is hunky dory. It gets frustrating and yes I am cynical and completely disillusioned.

So what can be done...and more importantly what have I done. I have crystallized these as rules. Currently there are 4. Will add more as they come by.

Rule 1: One size does not fit all. You have to adapt. You have to customize. Every organization has to have its own stuff. You can't do a Kavya (Cntrl+C & Cntrl+V)

Rule 2: People come first, and then come processes. This is key. In a small company you can't put the process first. The people have to want it. They must, must champion it. You can't sit in your corner office and tell people what to do. Rather, have them tell you what they want to do. In a big company, the rule holds but it is run differently. A small group of people (hopefully, not everyone is super bright. There has to be some from the middle of the pile) who are practical, discuss, debate, fight and agree on the best way to do it. Then they roll it out.

Rule 3: Keep the processes logical, simple and easy to do. The lowest common denominator should be able to do it. And yes, all organizations have them. NO, your organization however good it is has them too. Digitize to mistake proof and idiot proof it.

Rule 4: The type of process you want is strategic, implementation is tactical. Processes cannot flow top-down, they have to flow bottom-up to meet the strategy. Essentially, I cannot sit in a glass cabin and tell the worker on the plant floor what is the process I think that (s)he can easily do. That has to come from the worker. I can only tell the worker, what I want from that process

These four rules will do. It will work for you if you give it a shot. It has for me....all the time