Category: Business
The Big Fat Geek’s thoughts on Business and how business processes can be automated via workflows and technology.
Then and Now
My first job was in IRIS, in the year 2002. I loved my job. I had joined with seven other software engineers. We bonded really well together. We used to work on different projects, but lunched together … discussed problems, solved them … and generally helped each other out. Life was good, life was beautiful. I loved my life of a programmer. Our batch was one of the best the organization had, in fact some of us were awarded as the most valuable programmer, et al. No, I am not being modest :-), but we loved helping each other out … contributing to the organization.
My last job was in I2I. It was a simple transaction for me. I went to work, I stayed there till 6.30pm everyday, I came back – the company paid me for it. The very transactional nature of this perspective made me shudder … I had to leave the organization in search of greener pastures.
My new job is with Illumine, where the culture of the organization is to actualize the paradigm shift from transactional thinking of a job to contribution thinking. Will post more on this later, but at the moment think about it. Is your job a transaction for you?
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
I was initially very skeptical about reading this book by Rashmi Bansal. I prefer her blogs and the much more popular JAM-Mag. Most of you would already be knowing about her and the furor her blog had caused some years back. Well, the good madam has shown once again how to succinctly put together a practical book with an interesting theme – Entrepreneurship.
The point where it gets to be different is that each the entrepreneurs covered in the book are alumni from the top B-school in the country, thats right – the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The book is structured as chapters on each of these people, some who knew what they wanted at the outset, some who adapted their businesses to the demands of the market, some who struggled against difficult times – but all of those who have made a name for themselves in the end. Some popular names like – Naukri.com, Mastek, and even the company which I had worked for IRIS (Investment Research and Information Services) have been covered.
Altogether a good compilation, wherein each chapter tells us something about entrepreneurship.
Amateur blogger
I have decided to use my fledgling blogging talents (ahem!?! or so to speak :) ) for making some money. There are quite a few blogs out there which pay good money for guest bloggers to write posts for them. Rs. 500 to Rs. 1000 per post. It doesn’t pay as much as our normal job does, but imagine – you can earn this money without any qualification as such!!
Another style of earning money would be google ads. So please do not be pissed if you see those on my blog in some days. Heres to turning a cost center into a revenue center :-)
Start-ups and Upstarts
A co-blogger and an expert in start-ups, Sushrut has written an excellent post on reasons why one should join a start-up and what are the pitfalls one should look out for before joining a start-up.
The reason why I am re-iterating this point is simply because many start-ups demand the kind of dedication from their employees that is not needed and certainly not justified … all in the name of it being a start-up. Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe ESOPs dunga seems to be their mantra. While this works out for people who know exactly what are they signing up for, it comes out as a shell shocker for those who join the band wagon expecting a different culture altogether.
It’s the culture that could be a defining moment for the start-up. I am not dishing out gyaan here. It is true … the culture of an organization can go a long way between success and failure.
Heart
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the difference between a smile and a frown you can see when the chips are down what sets the winners and whiners apart is that winners have got heart |
So you fcuked up! Move on!
I would like to take a view au contraire to the recent global meltdown. With most of the companies looking at slicing off their costs by targeting their cost centers … they are doing a big mistake. What they should focus on, is how to monetize their cost centers … how to turn their cost centers into revenue centers. Instead, what do we see … job slashing … 1000 sacked! … 50000 sacked!! How is that going to help you? Yes, in the short run, your Quarterly statements might be able to absorb the hit the financial crisis has had on your revenues, but in the longer run, you have just sunk deeper into sinkhole that you are trying to rise from(pardon my french).
The entire reason why companies are seeing the financial crisis is because the finance giants were not cautious enough in making the investments on which they bet their proverbial asses, and are now reeling with the losses. So you screwed up … big time. It takes a great man to admit his mistakes, it takes an even stronger man to move on. In Hindi there is a phrase … agar yeh nahi to wohi sahi.
Organizations are there to do business, and there is business to be done. If the world says that the total amount of business has gone down … well they have to be wrong :) … or they are not just looking in the right places. So what if Lehmann Brothers closed up … what if AIG has gone for a second round of rescue … there are other firms who will step in the shoes of the fallen ones. Global business … the show … must go on. Where to look at business opportunities one might ask – see a problem, fix it … can it be simpler than that?
So lets see the world back on its feet and totter to the trot that we were used to seeing.