I am feeling like it’s been only couple of months back when I wrote similar kind of message last year. Time flies, real fast.
Personally, this year has been series of new learning for me; learnt so many new things; the list goes endless. Explored new things in life; started looking with new perspective; it is a welcome change. Kept my workout routine Though there were ups and downs in life, but learnt from each one of them.
Professionally; there were so many changes and learning. But I guess I am satisfied with the journey so far. Learnt new things, learnt on how to build new relationships, new businesses and was involved in building the business unit. It was a wonderful experience.
Like last year, I have designed New Year resolution for myself, and I am quite confident that I will stick to follow these;
•Be regular in blogging and in workout. Maintain a good and healthy body.
•I want to be more regular in reading, my reading hours have come down drastically in the past year. I want to read more and more.
•Want to build much bigger business, focusing on profitability. Have more business friends.
•Learn few new things, which I have not done so far. (Cooking is on priority in the list, but wanted to try few new things this year)
•Try to be a better human being.
I know I have done mistakes in the outgoing year, I am hopeful that all of those who got hurt by me will excuse me. I also got hurt in few occasions, but I have long forgotten them already. I might have achieved few things, however I want to remind myself it was not me alone who was responsible for this, I might have failed in few attempts; but I want to motivate myself that this is not the end of the road.
New Year, new beginning, new dreams and new push. Let’s make most of from 2011.
Wish you all a happy and wonderful new year 2011.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Six Ways to Refuel Your Energy Every Day
I read this interesting article on Harvard Business Review; and thought of sharing this..
Make sufficient sleep your highest priority.
The research is clear: we require seven to eight hours of sleep in order to be fully rested, and for our brains to optimally embed new learning. Great performers, ranging from musicians to athletes, often get even more than 8 hours.
Two simple strategies can help. The first is to set a specific bedtime and to begin winding down at least 30-45 minutes earlier — avoiding stimulating activities like answering email, and opting instead for more relaxing ones like taking a warm bath, or reading.
The second is to spend a few minutes reviewing what's on your mind before you go to sleep, and then write down anything that's worrying you. What you're doing is effectively parking these concerns so that they don't end up keeping you from falling asleep, or back asleep in the middle of the night.
Take a renewal break at least every ninety minutes.
The first key is to intermittently quiet your physiology. You can dramatically lower your heart rate, your blood pressure and your muscle tension in as little as 30 to 60seconds with regular practice.
With your eyes closed, try breathing in through your nose to a count of three, and out through your mouth slowly to a count of six. In this way, you're extending you're recovery. As your body quiets down, your thinking mind will also get quieter and you'll feel more relaxed
Keep a running list of everything — literally everything — that you want or need to do.
The more fully and frequently you download what's on your mind, the less energy you'll squander in fruitless thinking about undone tasks, and the more energy you'll have to be fully present in whatever you're doing.
Run up your heart rate or take a nap in the early afternoon.
If your excuse for not exercising regularly is "I don't have time," consider working out during your lunch hour
There may be no better way to clear the mind, lower anxiety and jump start your energy than by intentionally raising your heart rate into the aerobic or anaerobic zones.
If taking a run or going to a gym is too time consuming, how about taking a brisk 15 to 30 minute walk outside? Or if you're in an office building, how about walking up and down the stairs?
Practice appreciation — and savoring.
One of the least recognized ways we squander energy is in negative emotions. We're far quicker to notice what's wrong in our lives than what's right.
Look for opportunities to appreciate someone in your life, and share what you're feeling — directly, or in a note. You'll be giving the other person a shot of positive energy, but sharing positive energy will also make you feel better.
Look too for opportunities to appreciate yourself. Take time to savor small victories, give yourself credit where you deserve it, and forgive yourself when you fall short.
Develop a transition ritual between work and home.
When we leave the office, many of us carry work with us. The result is that even when we get home, we're still not truly present. Consider establishing a very specific way to disengage from work so you can leave it behind.
Make sufficient sleep your highest priority.
The research is clear: we require seven to eight hours of sleep in order to be fully rested, and for our brains to optimally embed new learning. Great performers, ranging from musicians to athletes, often get even more than 8 hours.
Two simple strategies can help. The first is to set a specific bedtime and to begin winding down at least 30-45 minutes earlier — avoiding stimulating activities like answering email, and opting instead for more relaxing ones like taking a warm bath, or reading.
The second is to spend a few minutes reviewing what's on your mind before you go to sleep, and then write down anything that's worrying you. What you're doing is effectively parking these concerns so that they don't end up keeping you from falling asleep, or back asleep in the middle of the night.
Take a renewal break at least every ninety minutes.
The first key is to intermittently quiet your physiology. You can dramatically lower your heart rate, your blood pressure and your muscle tension in as little as 30 to 60seconds with regular practice.
With your eyes closed, try breathing in through your nose to a count of three, and out through your mouth slowly to a count of six. In this way, you're extending you're recovery. As your body quiets down, your thinking mind will also get quieter and you'll feel more relaxed
Keep a running list of everything — literally everything — that you want or need to do.
The more fully and frequently you download what's on your mind, the less energy you'll squander in fruitless thinking about undone tasks, and the more energy you'll have to be fully present in whatever you're doing.
Run up your heart rate or take a nap in the early afternoon.
If your excuse for not exercising regularly is "I don't have time," consider working out during your lunch hour
There may be no better way to clear the mind, lower anxiety and jump start your energy than by intentionally raising your heart rate into the aerobic or anaerobic zones.
If taking a run or going to a gym is too time consuming, how about taking a brisk 15 to 30 minute walk outside? Or if you're in an office building, how about walking up and down the stairs?
Practice appreciation — and savoring.
One of the least recognized ways we squander energy is in negative emotions. We're far quicker to notice what's wrong in our lives than what's right.
Look for opportunities to appreciate someone in your life, and share what you're feeling — directly, or in a note. You'll be giving the other person a shot of positive energy, but sharing positive energy will also make you feel better.
Look too for opportunities to appreciate yourself. Take time to savor small victories, give yourself credit where you deserve it, and forgive yourself when you fall short.
Develop a transition ritual between work and home.
When we leave the office, many of us carry work with us. The result is that even when we get home, we're still not truly present. Consider establishing a very specific way to disengage from work so you can leave it behind.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Building the Next Layer
Just concluded India-New-Zealand one day series drew my attention for non-cricketing reasons. Though I didn’t follow the game as such, but one important factor about this series is that India fielded entirely new team and still won by clean sweep. Argument may be that opposition team was not up to the mark; but I can’t take out credibility from the winning team.
It seems, India has successfully built the next layer, meaning we have a strong backup plan ready. There are instances where a set of players retire and that team’s performance goes down. We have cases in Australia, earlier West Indies, Pakistan etc where when a set of star players retired the next layer was not in place and thus these teams struggled to attain the limelight again.
This means, Indian team has worked on a succession planning and has done really well.
Now, draw the similarities into business and there is a need to have this kind of strategic planning for every business or business lines. And more ever it has to be executed with lot of precession.
The reflection of a true leader is to build his own succession such that the operation should run even in his/her absence. And all true leaders have shown this ability and business has grown even after their exit.
Infosys, TCS and ICICI have shown this kind of succession planning where the CEO baton has been transferred to others, without impacting the business operations. Infosys is said to have been grooming next generation leaders with focus on building next executive team from within the company. Similar kind of effort has been in place for Tata Sons group where Ratan Tata’s succession is being currently worked out.
The learning here is, be at an organization or a business line; there has to be a succession planning, which helps you to elevate yourself in to new position, if your operation is taken by someone else. In this way, you can grow within the organization and also establishes you as a leader who plans strategically.
It seems, India has successfully built the next layer, meaning we have a strong backup plan ready. There are instances where a set of players retire and that team’s performance goes down. We have cases in Australia, earlier West Indies, Pakistan etc where when a set of star players retired the next layer was not in place and thus these teams struggled to attain the limelight again.
This means, Indian team has worked on a succession planning and has done really well.
Now, draw the similarities into business and there is a need to have this kind of strategic planning for every business or business lines. And more ever it has to be executed with lot of precession.
The reflection of a true leader is to build his own succession such that the operation should run even in his/her absence. And all true leaders have shown this ability and business has grown even after their exit.
Infosys, TCS and ICICI have shown this kind of succession planning where the CEO baton has been transferred to others, without impacting the business operations. Infosys is said to have been grooming next generation leaders with focus on building next executive team from within the company. Similar kind of effort has been in place for Tata Sons group where Ratan Tata’s succession is being currently worked out.
The learning here is, be at an organization or a business line; there has to be a succession planning, which helps you to elevate yourself in to new position, if your operation is taken by someone else. In this way, you can grow within the organization and also establishes you as a leader who plans strategically.
Sunday, December 05, 2010
The Science of Merger and Acquisition
We are currently working through a major merger and acquisition, actually our parent company in Norway is currently involved in this. And my recent Norway trip made me to understand more on this topic.
EBD Business Partners (Number one IT Services Company in Norway) is merging with ErgoGroup (Number two services company in Norway and my parent company), to form a bigger and stronger IT services company, serving Nordic market. (For more details, www.edbergogroup.com)
What really amazed me is the merging process a consulting company is recommending. (Boston Consulting is involved in this process). The problem was, both the companies have similar portfolio in terms of services and infact they were competing in the market. This complicated the entire process.
The process suggested here was something very innovative. CEO, being at L0, picked up his management team as L1 or level 1. The picking happened based on the merit, purely on the experience and qualification. This helped to form a correct portfolio which was good for merged company. And L1 is allowed to choose their management, L2, so on.
The result is, the completely redefined company with clean focus on business segments and focused geographies. And since competitive ones got the job; its good for the business and customers. Also, customers got merged so seamlessly that there was no change in operation, business as usual was the mantra since beginning and it happened in that way.
Now, the challenge ahead is to merge the processes and policies and tools. I believe it would be simple task as most important part of putting together a working organization structure is in place.
I was just amazed to see who smooth the entire thing was put in place. Good learning!
EBD Business Partners (Number one IT Services Company in Norway) is merging with ErgoGroup (Number two services company in Norway and my parent company), to form a bigger and stronger IT services company, serving Nordic market. (For more details, www.edbergogroup.com)
What really amazed me is the merging process a consulting company is recommending. (Boston Consulting is involved in this process). The problem was, both the companies have similar portfolio in terms of services and infact they were competing in the market. This complicated the entire process.
The process suggested here was something very innovative. CEO, being at L0, picked up his management team as L1 or level 1. The picking happened based on the merit, purely on the experience and qualification. This helped to form a correct portfolio which was good for merged company. And L1 is allowed to choose their management, L2, so on.
The result is, the completely redefined company with clean focus on business segments and focused geographies. And since competitive ones got the job; its good for the business and customers. Also, customers got merged so seamlessly that there was no change in operation, business as usual was the mantra since beginning and it happened in that way.
Now, the challenge ahead is to merge the processes and policies and tools. I believe it would be simple task as most important part of putting together a working organization structure is in place.
I was just amazed to see who smooth the entire thing was put in place. Good learning!
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