The corporate world is enamored with fads. You will find a slew of terms, acronyms, all of them announcing the flavour of the year or (even worse..) the quarter. BPR. KM. BHAGs. ISO. TQM. The list is endless.

One of the most dangerous ones though is the dreaded term called “Best Practice“

A lot of consulting companies have made tons of money selling “Best Practices”. These are the exceptional things that successful companies do. These are usually what consulting companies ascribe the success to. Thereby creating the dream that if YOUR organization were to “mimic/ape/copy” these Best Practices, you too would experience similar success. This is a very seductive draw, since there is ample evidence how the other company benefited from said Best Practice. Leading you to believe that you can too!

This is a load of (pardon the French) BULL. What’s Best for others, is BUST for you.

There are over 17 books written about various Best Practices at Toyota, a similar number on Dell and many

Image via Wikipedia

many more on GE. Yet, how is it that no other company has even come close to any of them?

And that’s the key. That is the question you have to ask yourself, before you dive mindlessly into mimicking someone else’s Best Practice. What your consultants don’t tell you, is that GEs Best Practice, is Best only in GEs context. In your context it might not work.

Just like a chemical reaction, a Best Practice doesn’t just require the ingredients. It requires them at the right temperature, pressure, humidity, right order and right quantity. Any of the above being wrong, will result in a BUST i.e. no reaction.

Pardon the French but Mimicking is best left to Monkeys.

Do I hear you ask “So what do I do then?”

Be informed by a Best Practice, don’t be influenced by it. By which I mean, don’t go copying it blindly, but learn from it, and then examine how something similar would need to be tailored to suit your context. Modify as required. Make a few changes. Maybe even do something completely different although in a similar vein. GE’s Best Practice can never be your Best Practice. Never.

Build your own. For deeper insight, look within. If you’re a successful organization, you already have Best Practices that are propelling you. Figure out which are those Best Practices. Once you have identified a few, put them all down together and use a process of analysis/synthesis to define which paradigm the practices operate from. That’s your context.

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Now tailor other practices around similar paradigms. And you’ll be on your way to consciously building your own Best Practices. Which would be more “appropriate” to your context. Let’s move towards Apt Practices.

The next time a consultant calls to present yet another Best (Busted) Practice, do listen. Don’t copy. Be original. Duplicates never command the same value.

Related articles

• Best Practices – Aren’t (jamkib.wordpress.com)
• Why Marketing Best Practices Aren’t Always Best (hubspot.com)
• Best Practices Are Not Always Best Practice (customerthink.com)
• Implement THAT! (Part 2) – Adapt for Context (tomschimmer.com)

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Questions, thoughts, provocation, insights… My experiences.. My beliefs… All listed here, with an intent to share what works for me.. May be it will for you too…

“	Life Skills Coaching. My provocation to you. Yes, you. Filed under #LSC .. Wake up. Act. If not. No sweat. Someone else surely will.
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	Tomorrow can be the first day of the rest of your life.. What will you do to make things better? #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	Pick one relationship that’s lagged that you regret. Call. Email. Connect. And resolve. Start with apologizing for the part you played #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	Identify one thing you’re not good at. Outsource it. Delegate it. Find a partner/friend who will do it for you. #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	You can’t be good at everything. Forgive yourself. Make peace with yourself. Love yourself like you love others, who also have gaps. #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	What’s the one thing you keep wishing for? Stop wishing. Act. Save. Give up. Move towards. Hope and wishing are not a strategy #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	The universe awaits your direction. Everytime you believe something will go wrong it will. Believe in success. Prepare for it though #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	There is no better, or best unless you take risks.Avoiding difficult choices, will result in average and mundane. Walk outside the line #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	Do you realize the dreams you dream when asleep,you mostly don’t remember?And waking dreams you never forget? Dream right.Dream awake. #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	We are strongest when we accept our vulnerability.And be who we really are. Think about it,wconceal our vulnerability out of insecurity #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	Laughter.Derision.Excommunication. If you haven’t faced all these you’re not living in a society.Its a given.Do your own thing anyway #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	Man on the moon-fantasy Organ transplants-ditto Women empowerment-joke Free Africa-never But someone dreamed and acted. Reality today. #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	I live life like its a chem lab. Teacher says mixing some stuff is dangerous.Don’t do it How will I know? Discovery lies in exploration #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	At a crossroads. One path you know. The other unknown. Which one will you pick? Doesn’t matter. You’re beautiful anyway. #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

“	If everyone was different & followed their path.We’d be screwed.If you live life as usual.You’re awesome.You’re the vital balance #LSC
	JoyAndLife September 5, 2011

A man of wisdom told his child, “My child, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all…… ‘One is Evil’ — It has anger, jealousy, greed, resentment , inferiority, lies, & ego…… ‘The other is Good’– It is Joy, Peace, Love, Hope, Humility, Kindness, Empathy, and Truth”…..

The child thought about it, and asked, “Father, which wolf wins?” The man quietly replied……..”The one you feed”…….

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10 years ago, the emerging economies were China and India. There were numerous discussions on what this will mean to the world and how things will change. Well we’ve seen a lot of that happen.

Today, over 50% of the world’s IT outsourcing happens out of India. China is the largest consumer of commodities, steel, cement etc. in the world and the largest manufacturer and exporter of a variety of goods.

These changes impacted the developed world in terms of where they sourced from. They impacted beneficially, the financial health of organizations, and enabled sustainability in the face of rising local costs. There was some grief with respect to employment, but not a very significant impact on the overall financials of an organization or economy. This is all set to change.

Over the next decade, we will see another change. China and India, and I should say the Asia-Pacific region will become the largest consumers in the world.

This shift will be tectonic in nature, since this will mean a sea-change in consumers/customers for every large corporation on earth. And thereby, a change in where they make their money from.

What’s more, it’s not going to be a gradual change. IBM, BMW, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola and many others took decades to build their businesses in the developed world. For Asia to overtake this scale of consumption within one decade is going to be the equivalent of an F1 to a bullock cart race! And this is not just true for consumer products companies, but equally true for engineering giants and B2B companies.

If you’re a numbers person, and data helps you have a

Image via Wikipedia

clearer grasp, ruminate on this one – In the last 10 years, India has gone from 7 million mobile phone users to 840 million. That is more than the total subscriber base of USA+ Russia + Brazil. And China has 50% more than that number.

Today, for a lot of global organizations, the Center is still the country where they began. The USA or UK or Japan or Finland. A lot of strategic decisions flow from the top i.e home country. But in the next decade, this is what will change!

If these companies do not get closer to their customers, they will become irrelevant. It’s already happening to Nokia. IBM made the smart move and sold out to Lenovo, who are in the midst of the action now, based out of China.

R&D centers. Command Centers. Consumer Insights. Marketing communication. Human Resources. Knowledge capital. Even the Financials. Will all have to undergo a shift. The power centers will have to move to Asia.

Image via Wikipedia

Organizations that continue to hold on to existing power centers, will be at the periphery because the action, the customers – the very existence of the business, will have moved to Asia.

Time was, you sent space-fillers to “hardship” postings in China/India. Can you afford to do that today? The best talent will have to be deployed here. Professionals who are unwilling to move will become irrelevant. Organizations that don’t make these moves will become extinct.

And while I say organizations, I actually mean each component of an organization. What this really means is, that the Marketing team will have to refocus and shift. The Human Resources function will have to reorient itself to understanding talent, diversity, culture, compensation and much more, in the Asian context. Strategy, if run from Headquarters in the developed world, with no insight to Asia, will be sub-optimal, and that is putting it kindly.

The greatest impact of this will be on organizational culture. Organizations that will be able to walk away from a Parochial mindset will make the shift, others will lag. “It has never been clearer that the country’s best self is a global inheritance, its worst a parochial self-certainty. —Jedediah Purdy, New York Times Book Review, 22 Feb. 2009″

And the biggest impediment to any of this happening, will be the leadership team. Leadership teams that insist on hanging on to their own power centers, and their own relevance/control/comfort-zones will ensure that the future pays the price.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but the world map is

Image via Wikipedia

depicted differently in each country. If you were to see a world map printed in USA, the USA will be at the center of the map with other countries on the sides, ditto for a map printed in India, or the UK or China. It is such paradigms, it is such “ways of seeing the world and ourselves in it” that will be the largest impediment.

In the next decade, we are going to see a Center Shift. The question is, will your organization be ready? Are you preparing to shift your center today? If not, you’re already behind the curve.

This post was triggered by a phone call between my friend and OD guru, Gyan Nagpal, all credit to him.

Related articles

• Do China And India Hold The Key To The Gold Trade? (businessinsider.com)
• Future organizations – a radical thought - by @joyandlife
• Nokia posts massive loss, blames ‘ambiguity’ (go.theregister.com)
• The Drivers of Change – Mavericks in the workplace – by @joyandlife
• Social media and Organizational Effectiveness – by @joyandlife
• China to Play a Larger Role at IMF – The Dragon is Roaring! (trak.in)
• The UK can benefit from the East’s super-cycle (telegraph.co.uk)
• Ivory Tower (timesoftexas.com)
• In the Basement of the Ivory Tower (timesoftexas.com)
• ADB: 3 billion more Asians may be affluent by 2050 (seattlepi.com)
• Is America falling behind China? (greginsd.wordpress.com)
• The great divergence, the other way around (rodrik.typepad.com)
• The Global Search for Education: The Future of Jobs? (ischoolexcellence.wordpress.com)
• Innovation is Rapidly Globalizing: India and China are Becoming Centers of Pharmaceutical R&D says Kauffman Foundation Study (kauffman.org)

• Living dinosaurs – the Galactic Headquarter -  http://lead-better.blogspot.com/2008/08/living-dinosaurs-galactic-headquarter.html

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While everyone’s talking about how brands can leverage Social Media, only a few are really doing something about it. Or getting it right.

I’ve had quite an interesting experience the last week and I can honestly say it triggered this post..

I was disappointed that I was having to change my 3 rd Blackberry handset in a span of less than 2 years and was reminiscing about the Nokia handsets I had owned and their awesome build quality.

So in a random moment, I tweeted about this and asked if I should dump the Blackberry and switch back to a Nokia. Knowing that quite a few of my friends/followers would respond. What I did NOT expect, was what followed.

I received a tweet from @WOMworldNokia saying they would FedEx the brand new Nokia E6 for a 2 week trial, all expenses paid. In 15 mins they’d emailed me a license agreement, and in 4 days, I had the phone in my hands, including a surprise package – the new Nokia J headset – which is a design statement!

I tweeted about this several times, and quite a few other friends retweeted and even asked for a phone for themselves. In all this time, guess what? No tweet from the Blackberry boys! I don’t think they even have a clue! In the meantime, my followers (1600+ of them) have read about what Nokia did, at least 12 times. 4 of them retweeted this, and covered about another 10,000 odd followers between them.

Image via Wikipedia

Not only have Nokia made a statement, they’ve come right back into my mindspace, and I kid you not. I am thrilled right now, with what they have done.

So if you’re interested in trying out a Nokia phone, for FREE, tweet to @WOMworldNokia, who knows, you might just get lucky!

Here are some more brand connects I or my friends have experienced on Twitter/FaceBook:

1. Here I was, struggling with my AirTel HD Dish TV connection. Their website wouldn’t work, their telephone line would disconnect before I got to a human, their SMS helpline was sending back gibberish. So I tweeted how disgusted I was with AirTel and would move to Tata Sky soon. Within an hour or so, I got a Tweet from @airtelpresence, saying I should write in to them, and they’d sort it out. True to their word, in about 36 hours, they did.

Image by bhautikjoshi via Flickr

In all this time, strangely enough, I never heard from Tata Sky! But had they responded, I was vulnerable and would have done a deal. No kidding.

2. Tata Motors. A good friend of mine was having a challenge getting through to someone at Tata Motors, and having been frustrated by them several times, he tweeted about it, blogged about it. Guess what? No reply. They are dead to the world we live in, where information spreads much faster than the printed word.

3. Gostana – Just the other day, I had the weekend alone, to myself, so I thought I’d settle into a nice pub that had WiFi and pass a few hours pottering about on the iPad. So I tweeted asking if anyone knew a pub/bar that had WiFi, and I promptly got a response from @gostana saying they serve beer, great burgers and have free WiFi. I was impressed. Gostana is not in the league of AirTel or Nokia, but someone is watching, listening and connecting!

4. Ethos Watches on FaceBook – Most of my good friends know that watches are my weakness. I love owning a good watch and am always on the lookout for a good deal. A few months ago, I stumbled upon the FB page of Ethos (which is a high end watch boutique), and I learned that if you become a member on that page, you become part of the Platinum Club. As a member, I was privy to their once in 2 months’ watch sellout, where most watches went for at least 40% off. This was amazing. Yet another way how a brand and a retail chain, was reaching out to customers differently, and offering them something extra to keep them engaged in the virtual space. They have now gone on to launch a deal called Watch of the Week. If you like watches, and love to get a great discount, check out the link.

5. Mainland China – if a store or restaurant has a loyalty card, my wife will be a member. So she is on Mainland China, and through them she discovered their FB page. I find regular updates of upcoming promotions, deals, events. Recipes even. And my wife is always engaged. When we’re thinking of where to go for dinner, I am never surprised when she says “Oh, there’s a Chinese New Year buffet at Mainland China, let’s go there” and do you know what? This works!

In a nutshell, some brands, big or small, are doing great things with Social media. They are able to leverage the reach it offers, and the dynamic engagement it offers (over TV/Print which are static mediums). These brands are building a new connect with the consumer, in a new domain, in a new world, and a new setting…in new ways. Personally, I am delighted with the way they are engaging. And they are enhancing their brand salience, they are definitely converting this engagement into tangible revenue and are continuing to remain relevant to the more socially evolved consumer of today.

And yet, BlackBerry and Tata have no clue… Time to wake up!

What’s your brand experience on Social Media?

Image via Wikipedia

Related articles

• Following brands on Twitter? Prepare for more ads (econsultancy.com)
• The Blackberry brand runs out of juice (namedropping.wordpress.com)
• Social media valuable adjunct to traditional media for lawyers and law firms (kevin.lexblog.com)
• Why Ad Agencies and Media Companies Should Hunt for the Next Instagram (adage.com)

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My friend Abhishek @mumblr asked me to write a blogpost on “Should companies pick an HR leader for CEO” .. I loved the thought and told him I will definitely write a post but with a twist.. So here it is..

I think there’s a one in a 100,000 chance of this happening..

But what I REALLY think companies should do… Is appoint a CEO to the role of HR Head…

I am fed up of seeing tons of research and surveys saying that the MOST important differentiator for an organization is talent and culture. And then not see organizations deploy their best resources to this function.

All the round tables I attend, all my personal engagements as a consultant repeatedly throw up only one issue, that most HR..and I say MOST, not all..are unable to make this happen for them. And organizations still don’t want to do something different.

If this function is so important? And the following are required – Execution. Analysis. Synthesis. Strategic business orientation. Delivery. Accountability. Speed. Ownership. Agility. Flexibility. Ability to influence. Then why not think differently?

What are the core competencies of a CEO? Read above..
Which profiles are easier to find today? CEOs? Or Great HR heads?

I think it is high time organizations got out of stupor and straight line thinking, and equipped this function with a leader who is known for an ability to understand strategic context and delivering results. Ergo, a CEO.

Don’t waste your retiring CEOs, recycle them into HR Heads.

Image by Ben McLeod via Flickr

I rest my case.

What do you think? I’d like to know…

Related articles

• Achieving Sustainable Growth Through Leadership (businessinsider.com)
• Rise to Greatness with These Organizational Strategies! (brighthub.com)
• Four Questions Every CEO Should Ask About HR (bjconquest.com)

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In reality, there is no space in life or this universe that is Risk-Free. If you’re alive, risk is part of your life.

Prayer and hope are not a strategy. To get what you want in life, some measure of risk taking is necessary. You can call it appropriate risk, where the risk is appropriate to the reward you’re aiming for. Keep in mind, that there will be consequences for every action, when you choose an action, when you take a risk, you choose the consequences that come with it.

Extraordinary acts require extraordinary courage, extraordinary conviction, and extraordinary perseverance.

What’s the risk you’ve been avoiding lately? Want to reconsider it?

Related articles

• Courage (mybodymyself.wordpress.com)
• Do you have the courage to enjoy life? (eliseonlife.wordpress.com)
• The Risk of Living Fully (joyofspa.com)

We’re talking about a 2 letter word here. And the word is NO.

Every subordinate’s bane – “If only I could say NO more often, life would be easier”

Let’s face it, most of us find it difficult to say No.

And yet if only we could, we’d be far happier, whether at work or in any other relationship where it is required to be able to say no.

If there’s one issue that I face the most as I coach and counsel professionals, it is this. How do I say no?

The answer is simple. Don’t say No.

Say “Yes …… but….” 

The next time you’re overloaded and your boss hands you another thing to do, politely tell her “Yes I’ll do it but.. it will mean I will need to put the XYZ report on the back-burner”. Now if your boss says yes, then you’ve managed your work-load by getting another thing off the nowlist. Or if she says  ”No that’s too important” in which case, you say “OK then I’ll avoid the ABC meeting, that’ll give me time to get this done”.

You can be smarter in the first place and say “Sure, I’ll do it but, I’ll need to either put the XYZ report on the back-burner or sit out the ABC meeting”, if you follow psychology, you’ll realize your boss will choose one of the options you have provided.

Similarly “Sure honey, I’d love to take you out for the movie tonight, but that will mean I’ll have to put in a half-day at work on Saturday”

WARNING – None of this works on children!

Image via Wikipedia

Now don’t waste time, try this tip today!

Love yourself – blogpost

Choices, own up – blogpost

Image via Wikipedia

It may sound cliched (if you’re a parent it won’t), but the most magical day of my life was the day I held my newborn daughters in my hands. Yeah it’s hands, not arms… Both times, I was scared stiff and thought if I held them in my arms, they’d break..So I held them in my hands at arms length and looked at them, tears streaming down my face..

My elder one is now 14 (acts 22) and the younger one is 10 (acts 16), so you can imagine the trouble I am in.

And then, as they learned to eat, walk and quickly talk… I learned how to be a father. At first it was easy. They didn’t talk back.

At first they listened to me. Later, as time passed, they learned not to.

At first whatever they did in school was fine. Every test was a victory. As time passed, social mores started to play a role. We had to discuss performance. I had to learn to have those chats, and they had to learn to listen.

As time passed, they learned that when dad said “Beta, I want to talk to you” it was time to roll their eyes and give into another round of “Gyaan”.

I try hard all the time to be the kind of parent that can be seen as a friend. But it doesn’t always work out. It’s not easy to be the disciplinarian AND be a friend. Sometimes I make it work well. Other times I fail miserably.

They’re learning to be young adults, I am learning to be a friend.

A few years ago I tried to get them to call me by my given name. They said “Your name is Dad”, so I said “Then your name is Daughter” and that’s what I’ll call you. They just laughed at me and said “How will we know which one of us you’re calling” … Sigh.. they grow up too quick.

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Earlier I used to win more arguments, now they’re the quick ones! I hate losing to anyone at anything, especially verbal repartee. But with my girls, I love to lose. It makes them happy, and just to see them grin or burst out into laughter when they get the better of me, makes my day.

They’re growing up now. Soon they will fall in love. Go through heartbreak. Get confused about their career-choices. Will go through the kind of pain I can’t help with. I will have to learn how to handle that. I don’t know yet, how I will. But I’m Dad, I’ll find a way.

Related articles

• A Tribute to My Dad (attraversante.wordpress.com)

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The bane of our lives… At least for those of us, who dislike “The Game”

I had an encounter today, and it set me thinking, got me into a reflective mood where I went though my journey of how I managed to deal with this nasty bit of work.

See how I talk about it? I guess it’s clear…I HATED politics. Still do, but I am a lot calmer about it. So I thought I’d share some of my own learning. I’m sure there are some people out there who could use some advice. Some guidance.

It OK to hate politics. Its stupid not to recognize or understand the political nuances at your workplace, or in your Rotary club or the Golf Club.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking you to play politics. The fewer of us who play it, the sooner we will live in a world bereft of it. But till that happens,

Step 1. Acceptance. Admit, understand and believe that politics is a part of your life. Always will be.

Step 2. Learn to understand and recognize politics. I’m not saying play politics. I’m saying you need to know which are the teams out there. Who are the players. Who’s the captain. Who’s playing left field. Get the picture? Understand the power structure and the political hierarchy.

How do you do this? Befriend someone who understands. This person maybe like you, a bystander. Or a player, but someone who doesn’t see you as a threat. They will help you understand. Tap into the grapevine. It’s essential!

Step 3. Understand the minefield. Learn where the key trigger-points are. What to do, what not to do. Know where the mines are and how to find a safe way around the danger spots.

Step 4. Find an ally. Ensure you have an ally who is a key figure in this game. Don’t get me wrong again. I’m not saying you play the game, or aid/abet/assist in any way. All I’m saying is, be good at what you do. Be honest to your job/role. But ensure you have someone who is ready to stand for you and support you. Because sometimes even innocent bystanders get shot.

Image via Wikipedia

Step 5. Stay clean. Don’t align with any camp. Don’t be caught saying the wrong thing in the wrong place. We all get frustrated and sometimes say something out of line. Stay away from that temptation.

Step 6. Lastly, stay non-aligned. No camps. No sides. Focus on your work, your priorities and you will be fine as long as you deliver results.

How will you know if your ally/friend is the right one…there will be others like you who will know. Don’t decide too soon. Stay a while in the system, get to know it, before you make your choices.

It’s not easy in the beginning, but over time it becomes a skill just like walking. And you’ll do just fine.

Rishi Raj Gupta (a friend and very dynamic HR professional) puts it very well“I manage the game by not being involved, yet by being informed”

Would love to hear your stories of how you handled office politics. Leave a note!

Related articles

• Paranoid or Just Insecure? (blue2darknight.wordpress.com)
• In Defense Of Games At Work (forbes.com)
• Fun With Office Politics – cubeduel (lockergnome.com)
• How To Defeat Your Office’s Political Voldermort? (mohdhijazi.wordpress.com)
• Office Politics – Survival of the Savvy (chicagonow.com)