Guest lecture by Upendra Namburi, GE Money

Bridging the gap between theory and practice, we had Upendra Namburi, and alumnus of our B- school and presently the Vice President - Partnership Cards to address us students. He is an eloquent expert on product development by using consumer and market insights. I feel its best to learn from someone who's been in the helm of affairs. His presentation was not ostentatious with fancy Power point slides (After all, he seemed to be an ardent supporter of cutting the fluff and focusing on good ideas). He made 5 pertinent points about his career's learnings: 

1) Buck stops with me: The attitude while performing any job should be "What all would I have to make this yield the final outcomes". A job done with a sense of ownership yields positive results. 

2 )Keep on eye the ball : It is important to keep a tab on the action and your key result areas ("numbers"). 

3) Walk the Talk: Leaders ought to do what they preach. Those who do, can motivate people to follow them.Set an example before your preach. 

4) Face your Ghosts: It is important and often a painful process to recognize your weaknesses. Once you do, identify work that seems difficult to you and try to do it yourself or seek assistance from those who possess the skills that you lack.   

5) Murphy Rules: It is about the Execution: No, its not about ideas. Its all about who executes, and who executes it well. 

All in all, I think he spoke about what is really a reality in the corporate life and the unwritten rules that guide it. I sought a clarification about the first point: often people in the organisation do not like it when you overstep their authority or so as to say "organisational role" if you are the kinds who takes initiative and "want to do it all'. I liked Namburi's answer, he explained the thin line between THINKING that you own it, and DOING a job as if you own it. The attitude should be such that "I am responsible for the results" though the action may be manifested through a team. That is called being a team player I guess.

Upendra Namburi's blog : Loyalty Redefined

Wisdom from Weimar

“Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream, you begin it;
Boldness hath genius, power, and magic in it,
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated.
Begin; and then the work will be completed. “

- Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Read at http://robinsamuel.blogspot.com/

"Everyone's doing it"

Summary of an article by Robert M Green published in Business Ethics Quarterly 

("Everyone's doing it" abbreviated as EDI hereon)  

EDI: A Moral Justification 

- EDI is often an excuse to seek a bail out from an repercussions of an action which is widespread but less than ideal (e.g mitigate a punishment of a crime by offering EDI as a justification)

- In business, one often justifies a moral compromise under the garb of "competition is doing it too" 

But, 

1) Moral Conducts are Situational

- There might be situations where if you do not participate in the widespread (though immoral) behavior, you may be penalised for non-conformance (a common example I can think of is ragging) or suffer a personal harm or loss (casting couch)

- In business, these might be situations like offering or accepting a bribe, which may be classified as EDI by the party who commits it 

2) Moral Conducts  are Perceived Differently by Different People

- Some communities may have differing view of what is moral and what is not. 

- When the belief or moral value of majority is offered as a rationale to establish superiority,  EDI !

So, when can you morally justify EDI? (This is quite complex now)

When atleast first 4 out of these 5 conditions stand valid  : 

1) If refraining from the behavior do not cause you or your loved ones harm

2) If indulging in this activity will not harm others 

3) If this act becomes public knowledge, others will not engage in a substantially harmful act 

4) If this becomes public knowledge, your refraining from this behavior will not lead others to refrain from

it

5) Your refraining from this behavior will not unavoidably lead others to engage in it in ways that are substantially more harmful than would have been the case had you chosen to engage in it yourself

(Note: Phew, so my things  we do then will be immoral!) 

So I simplify it for you: 

1) Assess the cost of refraining on yourself (your loved ones a part of your-self)

2) Are you by refraining or doing this act harming others? 

3) Are you setting an example for others? Is it positive? Or detrimental? 

4) Is the act publically permissible? 

An act therefore is morally permissible if it does not harm self or others and the "actor" does not merit punishment or blame for doing so. 

Conclusion : 

Essentially the author is saying that being an ape is not the way to survival in the human civilisation. One has to have a logic in conducting business and self. We must consider the context, repercussions and compassion to analyse the situation to act. 

How do you decide whom to trust?

Photo: By me, at Kalaghoda Arts Festival

Well, what a silly question you may ask. But takes a lot to start trusting people. Trust is a prerequisite to any relationship: momentary or life long, loose ties or strong.  So for example, how do you tell whom to ask the direction while driving? How do you then decide to trust this 'chosen' person. Although it might be random to spot a person to ask the way, there is a lot of activity to finally decide whether to take his word or not. If that person was right and he/she helped you thank your "judgement" or "luck".  

How to you learn to trust your mother? No one remembers, okay but still let me guess. Based on our  experiences with our mother (caring and protecting attributes) we have slowly developed a keen sense to lean on our judgment more than the random factor or luck. Now the trust comes up intuitively. Take any other example, and you will find that after a while, a certain randomness in judging people gives way to a more organised and conceptual (though sub-conscious)  algorithmic process (logic). We have a mental check box, which probably starts from physical manifestation (way they appear, way they behave and way they express) to a meta-physical one (way they think, react and judge). Its intriguing to me, all this. I know that I keenly rely on both my intuition and logic to trust people in my day to day life, though I ll leave it to the psychologists to find out how the intermingling happens. I do go wrong, though like everyone in trusting some people: sometimes because they are good at putting up a facade and at other times, because I missed the fine print. 

What a Waste of A Day Today

I hate whiling away time. Just hate it when I lunge around the house contributing little to what I am supposed to do. But I know that I can go to whatever extent to avoid what I truly hate to do. Of course there are times when things move slowly, and I am okay with it...but I get this feeling there are ladders to climb, and I am just palsying around.

What's the Best Blessing?

How do you wish someone well, truly from the heart? What do you say to them that you wish that no harm come to them, especially if they are really close to you? How to you express them that you truly wish the best, knowing quite well that often in life there are times when they might not quite get what they want. There are blessings that I have heard elders give to the young, traditional Indian ones, which if roughly translated mean "Be blessed and fructify, may you be bathed in milk!". Then there are exclamations like "May you live long!", "Wish you all the luck" or "God bless you". 

Question Question! Then, what is the best blessing? What would I want to really wish if I want to wish them the best? I have come to understand that wishing that nothing should go wrong is idealistic. While blessing, one cannot anticipate that things would go wrong too. How do I wish so that I remain true to it?
So a realistic blessing would be "I wish that God gives you the strength to overcome any setback." To learn to be a phoenix is a blessing. The best blessing that would work in dark times, provide strength when there is none. I have come to know in times when you really need some external motivation, counting such blessings helps you tide over.

Ethics class musings

Somehow, our business ethics classes are very interesting. I swear , only a few other things interest me besides well- presented opinions and a crafty discussion.  The facilitator of our course has a point of view, sometimes rather controversial (she gets ultra- defensive sometimes). A generation gap is evident (she tries hard to connect to our generation, often in vain), and so her context: she is a yoga practitioner, a fan of scriptures, a mother of 3 and half year old daughter. She is rather patriotic and has a soft corner for all things noble and charitable. The delivery of the classes apart,  the content she brings to the course is worth reflecting. These classes are not heavy and sapping, and a refreshing respite for me. I just hope they took place in a garden or a nice picnic spot, where a huge group gathered for a battle of the minds, beliefs and wits. 

Each day is a test, that is what I have realised. Its a test of our ethics and integrity, and our decision making capacity. it is about ethics, and we hardly need classes for that. Yet, its a good idea to thing about "What Ifs" and present your opinion. My mom now thinks such discussions and pondering are a waste of energy, but  I miss times when my mom used to oblige me for long discussions on ethics over long walks and trips. I think now I am too busy for it too, and she is recuperating. Ethics are work in progress, nothing wrong or right, just real.