Obama In My House

After coming home, I was finishing some work on my laptop. My eldest son was sitting next to me generally doing nothing. He was back home, after playing and was tired, hence was just browsing the book and chit chatting with me. I was responding in mono syllables without listening to him. I was actually immersed in doing some work. He said something and I did not respond. He startled me with his next sentence :
“You are doing something that you should not be doing”. I looked up from my laptop. Now I couldn’t ignore him. It was t

My Son

ime to pay attention and understand what he was trying to say.
So I said, “Yeah, I know, I should be listening to you”.
“No”, he said, “You should read what Obama says”.
“What? Oh.. yeah I saw some news about him in today’s newspaper, I must read that”,
I was desperately trying to show that I was on top of the subject and I was miserably failing.
“No”, he continued surprise me and said further, “You should read the Reader’s Digest”.
I asked him to tell me what was it.  He insisted that I should read it and brought the RD, opened the page and gave it to me.
While pointing the 4 lines that he wanted me to read he said “Actually I don’t mean so much, but you read it”.

By now I had stopped guessing and was ready to face whatever it was.
“A study in 16 countries this year found that TV and videogames are drastically reducing playtime among kids one to 12. And parents also are wired to laptops, pagers and Back Berries”

Hmm.. a big lesson for me coming from my son.

I felt guilty of myself and proud of my son.
(RD, June09 carried an article on “8 lessons from the Obamas on Raising Kids”).

Caring for the listeners – human side of Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar

Last week, I had an opportunity to attend Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar’s music program once more, this time organised by Maharashtra Mandal Singapore. Listening to him on the stage takes you way above the world of music. His explanations and providing the context of the song or poem makes you truly enjoy the whole experience. He is a gifted singer and composer. Despite remaining very selective about the songs and poems he has made the world of music rich through his 60 years of contribution. He has received many awards not just from the government but from the public, peers and Shankaracharya.

This time I discovered one more noble quality in him as a human being.

It so happened that the program was to start at 5 pm, but it started at 6.10pm. This was not enough, the microphone was found to be not working the moment Panditji started talking. It was such an embarrassment. Then the interval + the sponsor felicitation took almost 40 min and as per the rules of the auditorium Panditji had to stop the program just when it was reaching its peak. This was robbing of music lovers the joy of listening to Panditji.

What I liked in the whole process was Panditji’s attitude. He expressed his grief not just at the state of the organisers, but also the fact that listeners did not get enough value from the program. He showed the sensitivity that not many artist show these days. Mostly the artist are concerned about the fees, stay, travel etc. But caring about the music lovers and thinking from their point of view is the ultimate sign of a great performer and great human being. I salute Panditji for this.

Beyound “Oracle buying Sun” … Into the “Open Source Governement”

Oracle to buy Sun Microsystems is the news getting lot of attention tonight. This is a big news in the industry as once upon a time both were poster boys of the internet boom. A lot is being written and speculated about the impact of this development. A real picture would emerge only after the dust is settled and more is known as to how Oracle deals with hardware, MySQL, middleware and Solaris. This deal has a potential to bring fundamental change in the IT industry landscape depending upon how Oracle approaches it.

While this is happening, I found the article ” An Open Source Government” even more interesting. This article is written by Jim Whitehurst of Red Hat Inc. where I work. The most interesting part that I liked is :

When information is open and individuals have the means to contribute, everyone shares in the responsibility for improvement. Informed citizens become engaged citizens. Engaged citizens contribute opinions, ideas and effort.

and

We must build the structure and culture for participation, from the highest levels of government to municipal town halls. We need to unlock the doors that stand between citizens and information. Both infrastructure and information must be open and easily accessible to all.

I found it to be very important attempt to connect the Governance, Government and Citizen through the principles of open source.

The participation by the citizens is so important to shape the nation that we want. As I am following the elections in the largest democracy of the world – India, I keep wondering how and why would more than 60% of eligible people would come out for voting.

Making people interested in participation, making it easy for them to participate and then making it affordable for the government to reach out to the citizen is a tremendous task.

Use of open source can help governments to find a way to address the last part at least, which will be a big leap. This would need a good leadership at the highest level. Hope the elections in India would bring a change for betterment.

Side effect of Trust – efficiency

Travelling on a subway/ local trains in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kolkatta, Delhi, Bejing the most common thing that you take for granted is the entry point/ checkpoint automatic doors. They come in different forms – “snap” doors or “lever” doors. Your instinct tells you to tap your pass or push the ticket through, door will open and you go through to the other side. This is the standard operating procedure at almost every subway station and every country I have visited.

Now imagine the contrast. You tap your ticket or pass on the ticket checking point and you look for door to open – either “snap” sound or the levers to push. But there is no door. It it a wide open “Pass through”. This is Tokyo.

You know what. I thought I was busy in tapping the ticket and hence might not have noticed opening of the door. And hence I moved passed the doors and looked back to check if the doors are snapping back to close. But no such thing. I was zapped. Being in a hurry I went and boarded the train. While coming out of the station I decided to keep a closer watch on the doors. Again I realised the doors were open all the time.

I was waiting for the opportunity to know it better and I got it on 3^rd day. My pass had run out of money and I tapped the pass on the entrance of the door. It beeped, flashed red light and doors closed. Oh..so there were doors. And in the instance I understood the logic.

The doors are open all the time and they close only when something goes wrong.

Wow.. I liked the logic, made for efficiency. Faster movement of people in the given time.

While I was admiring this efficient mechanism, I wondered why other cities have not implemented such logic. And that is when I felt that this mechanism or logic is not just the efficiency consideration. I felt that it reflects the social mindset as well. To me “keeping the gates open all time time, till some problem” is reflection of “trust” based society. Can you trust your citizens and design the systems just to stop the offenders? In most places we find the systems are designed keeping in mind that the people are going to cheat and checks are implemented accordingly.

Here in Tokyo I found that the system was ready to trust the people. Probably the society was trustworthy. This has helped to create so much efficiency. Trust has so many benefits.

My respect for that society grew multifold.

Opensource – IT Policy – Impact on the society

I am very happy to note that one of the key political parties in India- BJP – has unveiled a comprehensive IT policy. Reference to the use of open source software is even more noteworthy.

It is very nice to see that a political party acknowledges the role of open source software in innovation. (as it mentions on page 23 of the IT vision document). I am just hoping that BJP’s IT policy making team has much more in mind about the use of open source. I am listing how open source software can be leveraged for building good society and  good governance :

Use of open source software and open standards create the level playing field and helps to bridge the gap between haves and haves not. It also helps to bridge the gap between developed and developing nation by making the knowledge available without boundaries. Today’s era is all about access to knowledge, leading to faster innovation. The era of developing knowledge in a the closed door and then try to use it as an edge over the other part of the society or other nations is gone. It is a matter of faster innovation and access to all.

Use of open source software creates empowerment. Today government can not be seen as the only force that offers jobs. Youths and businesses have to come forward and create employment. Through the use of and encouragement of open source software governments can empower youths and students that would make them ready for the jobs. The empowerment is possible because tools needed in today’s knowledge era are affordable and accessible through open source software.

Use of open source software creates open and proud minds. It is like in the poem of Rabindranath Tagore “Where the mind is without fear and head is held high…”. The use of open source software helps to create “made in my country ” feeling in the globalised economy. By developing more software and more applications in the country, making those applications world class the proud feeling of “made in my country” get bolstered.

Local services industry : The use of open source software leads to creation of local service industry. Open source software commoditises the products and thrives on excellence in services, which is a boon to creating more jobs and more opportunities.

Impact on the education segment : When governments want to make the education and knowledge available to the poorest of poor children through the use of laptops, only the use of open source software can make it affordable. Besides that it is not just giving the laptops or software through the government scheme, but it is also about using the legal software on your home computer. Think of the very real issue. Governments make PCs /Laptops along with  the proprietary software available at the subsidized rates.  When the children want to use the PC at the home, they can not afford to buy the costly proprietary software for it. They end up using pirated software. Is this what we want our children to have the feeling? By encouraging the use of open source software we can give them the feeling of use of legal software. That is the way of developing “Free minds”.

Also one important aspect of digital education is availability of contents in local languages : It is very important to have these contents based on open standards and open source technologies. For the proliferation of contents and lowering of their costs, this is a crucial factor. If these vital contents are based on proprietary and costly software, their use gets restricted or becomes unaffordable.

Going further the impact of open source can be harnessed in developing the right mindset in the society. The open source software is based on the principles of “Collaboration”, “Sharing” and “Community Building”. These are vital ingredients of a good and progressive society.

There is more to write about each of these issues. We all can collaborate to turn them into concrete actions and build stong communities.

Outliers : My Views

Outliers – The story of success :  Excellent book.

Malcolm Gladwell, has connected the events that happen around us but we don’t realise the deep meaning behind them.

I really liked the message that it is not just the brightest and the best that get to be successful in life, there are more factors like opportunities, hard work, where we come from etc.  The examples of Bill Gates and Bill Joy getting an opportunity to practice and hone their skill is really appropriate. But that does not take credit away from them. The most important lesson is the 10,000 hours of practice. This was so true in case of Beatles, Joe Flom also. One can say that getting an opportunity is matter of luck but willingness to put in hard work and doing it is entirely in our hands.

Similarly I liked the example of Cris Langan – one might have very very high IQ, but that does not guarantee the success in life.  The example of Oppenheimer highlights other part of the story – you need to be able to communicate, present your story to be successful in life.

I was most impressed by the KIPP story. Not just the hardwork students were putting in and getting the resulsts but the fact that irrespective of your background you could rise in life if right environment is generated.

From the hardwork perspective, the life of Chinese rice farmer and life of !Kung bushmen of Kalahari Desert in Botswana is a striking example. How the nature and the work that we do to strive in the nature around us shapes our thinking,  our attitude towards life and how it make us successful or not in different fields.

Finally the study of PDI – Power Distance Index – shapes our communication and what effect it has on work.  It is so true that our environment and our upbringing shapes our communication and our mannerism – how we talk to elders, with people at higher position and in social context, what words do we use etc.  And when we are in the new environment those words, that mannerism takes entirely different meaning.

While everyone in the international business need to study this and adapt to the ways of communication around us, I feel the leaders and managers and all the decision makers need to learn it even more than others.

Book Review : The Post-American World

The Post American World When I saw the tile and name of the author I thought this seems to be yet another book which is going to paint a depressing picture of (decline of ) America and rosy picture of (rise of) Asian countries. It is a fad, in thing to be anti-American these days. Or to do the crystal gazing about bright and beautiful picture for BRIC countries. However when I read the blurb and brief information about the author, I realised he is journalist with wide exposure. Hence I bought it.

This book is written in a journalistic style. It is not a management or crystal gazing style. The author has put the “dots” on a very large canvas. The author gives lot of comparisons and lessons in the history – dating back to Roman empire. Most of the time, author has refrained from giving his opinion and has just put across the picture in multi-dimensional way.

Few of the aspects that I liked most are :

The compelling arguments about importance of economic and financial power. How good financial condition of the country has helped countries to achieve social progress as well. I liked the comparison of British Empire (of the 19th and 20th Century) and today’s America. It was interesting to read effect of political power Vs Economic power. How British Empire during its financial decline in 1900s continued to have its clout through strong political leadership (especially during Churchill and post WW II days.) But this political leadership did no take it far enough in terms of success. At the same time how economic, trade and financial power has helped America to remain a superpower even during bad political leadership (From 1980s onwards).

Also interesting read is Author’s attempt to throw light on the distinction between Westernization and Modernization. Those who oppose Westernization should understand that every modernization is not westernisation. And in modernisation lies lot of westernisation. It is a complex issue and delicate balance. Again here the author has attempted to put the “dots” and not just give opinion nor he is preaching.

Though the rise of the rest is a catchy phrase and I was looking for more about it, I found a lot is written about America’s cause of decline yet how its fundamental strengths are still intact and how it can come up with some good political leadership.

Overall a good read to specially those who want to understand the contemporary history.

When Cactus Smiles

Scene 1 : Hindi Movie – Hero is very sad, singing a sad song, all around him are Cactus plants. Camera is showing cactus plants every now and then. Director wants to convey deep sorrow and sadness in hero’s life.

Scene 2 : Ramoji Film City, Hyderbad – We are taking the guided the tour. The guide is showing various landscape gardens. Beautiful gardens based on various themes. And then he makes special announcement. “Look on your right side. This is the sad garden.” Garden and sad? Screamed my heart inside. The guide went on to tell, “see the Cactus plants all over. This is the place where all sad songs, sad scenes are picturised.”

My mind was not into the names of the movies that he was rattling that had picturised the songs and scenes in those gardens.

My heart was thinking about Cactus. Why one type of plant is associated with sadness. What that plant must be thinking about such association. As a living thing it also has emotions and it also must be going through happiness, sadness, joy all kinds of feelings.

I found myself standing in front of one of the Cactus plants. That plant understood my question, my thinking. It was talking to me.

“Sachin, when the mankind associated me with sadness, I went to the God. I asked God, Why Oh God, why? Why you chose me to represent sadness in the world.” God looked at me and gave me a smile. I felt even more sad. I Thought even God is giving me sarcastic smile. But I listened further.

God said, “man has to face both happiness and sadness in life. One appreciates the happiness in life when one encounters the pain of life. I want man to just look at you and understand the pain, sadness and thus appreciate the joy in life. This way I hope he would learn to be more happy without actually having to feel the pain. So my dear Cactus you have a special task to do. I have made you to remind people of sorrow and sadness. You are doing an important work. You end up making man happy. “

And I saw Cactus was smiling with satisfaction.

Why Indians can not make good IT products, but make good solutions

Indians are good at services and solutions but can not make good IT products – this is the old problem that we keep hearing about in the industry.

I have been meeting software companies in APAC in last one year. I meet lot of small and medium size companies. One common thing that I hear about them is that all of them have clients in APAC or Europe or in USA. These are small companies 10 to 50 people – not very big. Yet they manage to find buyers in other parts of the world.

Actually it is other way round, customers in other countries trust these products and companies.

There are many companies in India bigger than these companies. Why is it that Indian companies do not instill confidence about Indian Product capabilities, when Indian skills are very well acknowledged, Indians are respected in IT industry.

After spending one year in APAC, I have my perspective. Though this is not a comprehensive view but one of the issues.

We are good at creating ’solutions’ – solutions that can be tweaked whenever there is a problem. We love to solve the problems and we are very comfortable in the world of ambiguity. But this mental state is not good for making products. Products need state of fixed input and predictable output. Somehow, I realised that we, Indians are not good at being “exact”, “precise” “to the point”. We like giving “big picture” solutions, giving broad views.

Just think about the conversations that we have most of the time – about politics, economics, life. We love to talk a lot but without being precise. Ok this is a very generalised view and there are many good and precise thinking people in India. But the fact is that our brand, image as Indians is not like that. We as, people, are not known to be precise and exact. Hence the buyers dont find trust in capabilities to build great products.

This view was strengthened when I learned about the schooling system in Singapore. The way questions are asked and way students are supposed to answer develops thinking in the direction of being precise, being exact. Where as in India we encourage students to be creative and think out of the box. While it is good in many fields but it has not created a image of being precise.

Now it is a different question whether we should capitalise on our “solutions” and “Creative” brand or should we strive to build the products. I am not getting into that at this point.

And finally if you find above writing to be very generalised and lacking preciseness, well you have got my point.

Why Some people in top management are afraid of growth?

Why Some people in top management are afraid of growth? Was the question asked recently. I tried to answer in the following way.

When they are among the Top Management they have reached the peak, they don’t know where to go next. Usually after the peak is downfall. So they are afraid of that.

When I look closely at this question, I realise there are two scenarios :

First is since you have reached the top, you can not go up further and you need to put in efforts to stay there. But then, to stay at the top you need different qualities than when you were climbing. Most people don’t know what does it mean.

Second is once you reach one peak, you need to create another peak (new challenges) to get that feeling of going up. But before you start climbing another peak, you have to get down or you have to learn new tricks. You need energy (drive) to get out of the comfort zone and recharge yourself. Either because of age or because of fear of failure many people don’t try these things and become insecure in their “Top” position.”