Friday, May 31, 2013

Battology

That was the word of the day.

battology: wearisome repetition of words in speaking or writing.

That's how the classroom turns out to be. That's how the meetings also turn out to be. That's what advertising also turns out to be. That's what regretting also turns out to be.

Interestingly, that's what determination could also turn out to be.

Perhaps, the challenge for all of us is to repeat but not turn the repetition into battology.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Pizza Hut's fraud (or intention to fraud)


Sunday afternoon, I went to Pizza Hut. While ordering, I happened to see that stamp like symbol so prominently placed on the menu. Says "all inclusive Pricing" with a capital P. That term and that symbol seem so assurance-giving.

After having had my meal, I checked the bill. It had 10% Service Charges added to the total amount.

I enquired. I showed to the waiter that mighty symbol that seemed so reassuring. In turn, the waiter showed me the fine print at the bottom of the menu with the asterisk mark. Then showed the asterisk mark at the end of the term "all inclusive Pricing".

Wtf! Does the word 'all' and the word 'inclusive' have some sanctity or not?! It's like saying no-conditions attached, subject to this condition. Is the word bigger or that fucking * mark with the fine print? That's what it has come down to for the big brands, is it?

Monday, May 13, 2013

Why MBAs so often suck?

Because the guys tried memorizing from the textbooks and then cleared the exams to get the MBA certifications.

Textbooks are like ready-made gourmet platters. The metaphor sounds nice until we realize that gourmet can still find good space in a stomach and be digested. If only one could lick up the words and store them in the memory bin to be digested. Mighty difficult. Digestion in the head takes doing things with hands, legs and heads together and associating the words and concepts neatly explained and organized in the textbook with the sequentially messy things happening in the world outside the textbook. This kind of digestion is painful.

MBAs, by and large, don't remember all of the textbook. Besides, they typically find it difficult to move hands, legs and heads together in any kind of rhythm. Besides lack of rhythm, all want insane amounts in salaries for that very special exhibition of lack of rhythm.

Everyone's watching.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The information revolution is rather stunted

It doesn't mean that it hasn't benefitted us all.

Here's a little point. Can you possibly go through all the FB posts of your friends on any given day? Most likely, no! And yet there's this incessant urge to share some or the other thing on FB, of course in the hope that friends will read or see the post/update.

For this incessant and in all likely self-unregulated urge, there's practically no data for the user of FB to make any smart judgments about all his/her activity. Though, of course, FB has all the data at its disposal. Can it make the same available to its users? Very much. But it doesn't. Users therefore don't necessarily have any great means to understand and make their updates any better.

Users (including me perhaps) keep generating cluttering content. Users have limited time. Users don't go through all that's posted. Immensely wasteful effort and time for one and all. No measure to understand what's waste and what's wonderful. And FB puts a cap on free-flow of both the wasteful and the wonderful to generate money out of its users. 

FB learns and earns, user doesn't. Forget earning, largely, the user doesn't even learn. Even if he/she is learning, the learning curve is rather long and very very slow at best.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

CEO or CDO?

If ever the annals of 'words that obscure understanding' is written, then this word/term will surely feature: CEO. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.

Ever wondered why work isn't satisfying? Even the kind of work that you really love? Even the kind of work that you really love in an organization/team that you really love?

The term that really hides behind the term CEO is CDO. CHIEF DECISIVE OFFICER. The guy who decides has to deliver. So has to move his ass and kick others' ass. It is the moving and kicking of asses that really gave birth to EXECUTIVE, that really made EXECUTIVE substitute DECISIVE.

But the cost of that substitution has been humungous. Satisfaction out of work.

For the organization it served good political purposes. For really, if it comes to the pin on the point, there can only be one decision and one decision-maker. And the person decision-maker has to take responsibility of all that gets executed for the decision taken. It takes balls to take responsibility. Metaphorical balls. Most fail to muster that. So meeting rooms and committees and such. On occasions when someone with balls shows up, things really change.

Try being the CDO. You'll fail. You'll succeed. You'll meddle. You'll learn. You'll get better. Every single time, a substantial leap.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Beliefistan

You can change (or uplift) this country only by travelling out of it.

Like if you're always commuting by bike, trying a car or, may be, a bus.

Like if you've always been running in the morning, trying a walk.

Like if you've always been watching your role model on TV, trying to find one in your neighborhood.

Like if you've always worn a baseball cap, trying to carry off an Ascot cap.

Like if you've always lived with your room filled with things, trying to live in a relatively empty room.