Letter from a mother to her teenager son

Home is where we learn things. Home is where we experience things. Home is where we get ready to face the world, in whichever shape form or style it is presented to us. But have we ever thought about how do we create a better world for our children. Yes we all have to agree to the fact that whatever is happening around us is because of us. We are responsible for everything good and bad, nice and dirty, clean and filthy.

The recent incidents in Delhi must have triggered a revolution in our society but is that needed or we need to revolutionize the way we think. Mere strikes or demolishing public property will not get us the result rather it will put the burden on us. What we need is to change the way we think, change the way we perceive. I am not saying that all that we decide and do is wrong but what we must do is contemplate before we do after we have decided. Decisions may go wrong but the actions based on those decisions can be corrected. So why not start correcting those actions from home itself. Why not teach our children that women are the source of life, no matter what levels of successful scientific research we might reach a male can never bear a child. It is only the women who have this special gift from God. We pray with bowed head to Durga and Kali to give us the strength and success in life and equally shamelessly abuse the women in our homes. So what are we doing?

Dowry is a menace! I have been hearing this since I was a kid. So what, there are still many so called educated families who still want to sell their son for a hefty amount. In fact there is a different price tag for a Doctor, Engineer and nowadays a new profession is included - Software engineer!

Is dowry abolished yet? No. I have seen and talked with people who hold some positions of respect in our pseudo society saying that it is okay to ask/demand dowry. In fact I have seen some of my colleagues shamelessly display the dowry items they demanded from the brides parents. I don't blame the parents for putting their son for sale because they themselves have been nurtured and raised with the idea that women are meant for use and only for making others happy. That the men worship her inside the temples only to molest her outside. Does it mean that this chauvinist society begs for forgiveness from the mother/sister/daughter/wife in the temple so that he can abuse her later. Isn't it like getting an anticipatory bail before committing a crime.

It is time we have to initiate the change, and because the men are always busy I request the mothers to take an additional task on them to cure the society from this perverted sick mentality which treats women as nothing more than mere objects of desire.

I have this letter from a mother to her teenager son wherein she just advises him just before he chooses his life journey.

To be ‘loving’ is to be ‘loveable’ – it is possible to be both strong and tender at the same time.

1. Your masculine energy has been given to you to protect others and support them – don’t ever be a bully, but do defend yourself.
2. Play sport, be fit, eat well and live a wholesome life – you don’t yet know but you have only been given ‘one’ body – don’t abuse it, you don’t get to trade it in when you wear it out.
3. You set the tone in intimate relationships. Support and nurture the feminine energy around you. Like Yin and Yang, relationships need the strength of the masculine and the softness of the feminine.
4. Allow yourself to trust in all relationships – don’t fear being hurt or hold yourself back because of this fear. Fully express yourself; be the man you know yourself to be, and if it does not work out it's okay.... it is better to be yourself and be loved for that, than hide in a relationship and ignore your true self.
5. Don’t fear being alone. 'Like' yourself, know in your heart you are a good man – people are attracted to those who have self-belief.
See the light side of everything – don’t take yourself too seriously. Life is a long, hard road if you are not having fun along the way. Set goals and celebrate your successes.
6. Find what you have been put on the planet to do, how you can make a difference to others – Ask your self daily "how will I leave the planet a better place than when I arrived?"
7. Treat every woman kindly – and treat her equally. Women can do everything you can do – they just might do it differently.

Simply remember that life is a journey – every day counts and...be grateful for what you have.

“...You have to fight through some bad days to earn the best days of your life.”

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What kind of a society we live in?

Our society worships goddess Durga & Kali begging for strength and at the same treat the women in our homes as weak, frail individuals who lack brains and cannot be treated as human beings. Our mothers, sisters, daughters, wives are not allowed to think for themselves rather are forced to do things that the men want. Isn’t this a society full of hypocrites worshipping Durga in the temple and abusing her in our homes, on the streets and whenever wherever possible.

We get angry and punish an artist for the wrong portrayal of goddess Saraswati on canvas. But we allow our politicians and law keepers to take their own sweet time to punish those sick perverted rapists and everybody ill-treating our Durga, Kali, Laxmi and Saraswati. Is this the society we want to live?

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Fight Back India

My dear friends,

Even while the entire nation mourns the passing away of the Delhi girl and while we hope for greater sensitivity towards women and girls, here is something practical for all women in India.

Tech Mahindra had long back developed an application called “FightBack” – which was being used only by the staff members of Mahindra Group.

After the gang-rape of a woman in New Delhi; Anand Mahindra has now thrown open this smart phone application for public use, beyond Mahindra employees.

The FightBack application tracks a user's location and sends SOS messages to selected contacts in case of an emergency.

This application is now available for download on the company website for free & IS ONLY FOR INDIAN MOBILE NUMBERS.

The FightBack app allows the user to press on a panic button whenever he/she feels unsafe. It tracks the location using GPS and alerts chosen contacts about the location map and is available on Android and Blackberry.

www.fightbackmobile.com

How to download the application?

1. Register yourself or login through Faceback with Post click.
2. After the successful Login in the portal, Click to Download.
3. Enter the mobile number on which you want to deploy for the Fight Back application.
4. Select your handset on which you would like to download the application from the device list.
5. Click on Download button, and you will receive the link to download via SMS.
6. By clicking on the downloadable link within the received SMS your application will start downloading.

Do spread this to create awareness. BLINK! THINK! DECIDE!

Practicing Leadership

Practicing without training ingrains bad habits.

People who learned to ski at early ages learned the fundamentals early and well. Not if you begin at 40. Instructors pushed the early learners to move to more difficult slopes while maintaining good form. The late starters take their bad form from slope to slope. As supposed, the early learners are much better skiers than those who start at 40. While the early learners were taught correctly, the late starters learned the skills willy-nilly — just like all those supervisors left to their own devices until they reached their 40s. Worse, the late starters have to practice the questionable skills over and over, ingraining them deeply.

Practice makes perfect only if done correctly.

Practicing for hours doesn't automatically create excellent skills. Say, for instance, that, as an aspiring golfer, you go to the driving range and practice by hitting buckets of balls off into the blue. You may leave feeling you've done something to help you improve, but more than likely you will only have practiced whatever swing you came with — good, bad, or indifferent. But say that when you go to the range you take a more deliberate approach. You draw a circle 20 feet in diameter, move back a bit, and proceed to hit balls until 80% land in the circle. Then you move farther back, take a different club, and do the same thing. That is deliberate, focused, and productive practice. Perfect practice makes perfect performance.

Your young supervisors are practicing on the job whether you've trained them or not. Supervisors, are of course, leading people from the first day on the job. And from that day habits are being formed. Attitudes are being created. Management practices begin to coalesce. Would it not be in the organizations and the individuals' best interests to begin that process the moment they're selected for that position?

"With all the money and effort being spent on leadership development programs, why don't we have better leaders?"

The answer to that question is obviously complex that we have simply waited too long to develop these skills? It may be possible to teach old dogs new tricks, but there's no question that the sooner you begin, the easier it is. BLINK! THINK! DECIDE!

Tips for Job application

Why You Never Hear Back:

You really aren’t qualified. If a job description specifies a software developer with 3-5 years of experience and you’re a recent graduate with one internship, it’s unlikely you’ll get a call.

Avoid disappointment – don’t apply for jobs for which you lack qualifications. Most job descriptions are written with very specific requirements. Yes, the company is trying to find the most qualified candidate; yes, they are trying to weed people out. It’s not personal, it’s business.

You haven’t keyword-optimized your resume or application. Job descriptions are salted with keywords specific to the skills or attributes the company seeks in applicants. A close read of the job description is a necessity, as is keyword-optimizing your resume and cover letter, if you’re using one, or email. If the job description lists words in a certain order, e.g. a list of programming languages required, use the same order in your resume.

Your resume isn’t formatted properly. You might think distinctive formatting will set your resume apart, but automated programs don’t care if a document is pretty. Help a machine out. Be consistent in formatting – consider using separate lines for former employer, job title, and years worked.

Your resume is substantially different from your online profile. LinkedIn, Dice and other online profile sites can be useful tools, so it‘s important to make sure they match what’s on your resume. This may seem to be a contradiction – in #1 keyword optimization – but it’s really common sense. Jobs worked, employers, years on the job and other details should match. The subtext here is always tell the truth. The company received 500 resumes for one job posting, and yours was 499th in. Looking for a job is a job.

Do your research – know which companies you want to work for, organizations where you sense culture fit. Every morning scour the job postings and jump on anything for which you’re qualified (and in which you’re interested.) Being early with your resume or application does matter. Check back often in the first few days to make sure the listing hasn’t changed. Often a company will post a job and halfway through the process change the description.

Read more: http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/top-5-reasons-hear-applying-job/#ixzz25ORMf99r

The fear of Disruptive Innovation

To succeed, business decision makers need to be open to new ideas, while at the same time appreciating that standard processes are standard for a reason: they work. It’s a fine balance, and understanding when to look and when to leap can be the difference between growth and stagnation.

With new ways of looking at things, you inevitably get resistance.

Say you’re in business, and you have a problem you need to solve. What do you do? You get four people to come into your office and pitch you their ideas for how they can solve your problem. Three of them say they’re going to solve your problem one way, offering different flavors of exactly the same solution. The fourth says he'll solve your problem a different way, with a completely unique, novel approach that looks at the underlying issues from a completely new perspective.

It’s pretty natural to want to choose one of the three. People fear the unknown, and when the boss looks back if something goes wrong, he or she isn’t going to question why you went with the safe option and not the risky one. You did it because it was safe, and safe is meant to be good. After all, it took more than a decade for the closed-innovation phrase "no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft" to finally die out.

Of course, none of this is to say that if people come to you with a crazy idea they say will set your business apart from your competition, you should start writing out a check on the spot. Some ideas are unsuitable for certain businesses, some are unsuitable for certain times or locations, and – let’s be honest – some are just unsuitable.

So how can you make decisions when the choice is a leap? I was walking past a café the other day and I saw a sign that said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge". It made me think about innovation and how businesses can improve the odds when it comes to implementing new ideas. I realized imagination isn’t more important than knowledge, and neither is knowledge more important than imagination. Like a gun and a bullet, imagination and knowledge are interdependent – extremely powerful when used together, but entirely useless on their own.

When someone comes to you with a radical idea, you need to listen to it objectively, without dismissing it out of hand because it sways too far from the norm, but also without getting so caught up in the potential that you forget the practicalities. Then you need to think about it, applying your knowledge of the market and of your business. It sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how many people consult with their hearts and their guts, but not with their heads.

If necessary, ask the person to explain the benefits again, and confront him or her with any concerns. The individual who truly has a great product idea will love it – it’s like asking a bodybuilder to pump his guns.

It all sounds like a lot of work, but it’s the difference between a great company and one that just gets by. And when you hit on the innovation that’s not only exciting and fresh, but that it also makes sense when you stop and think about it, you’ll know you’re onto a winner.

This article was sent by Paul Trotter, Founder & CEO- Author-IT-Software Corp.

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Resume or Curriculum Vitae

Difference between Resume and CV (an acronym for Curriculum Vitae) has always been confusing for fresher guys looking out for job and experienced candidates who want to change their jobs. I also had confusion between these terms; hence, I did a research on these terms and come out with a remarkable difference between them. Though, these terms are identical, people use them interchangeably without thinking about the difference between them.

Here, in this article, the basic difference between Resume and CV is discussed. This will also tell where the term Resume should be used and where CV.

Resume

Resume is a French word whose meaning is Summary or Extract. As the name implies, a resume should contain an extract of the candidate’s objective to join the organization, current employment, previous employment, education, and other skills that highlights his/her qualities. It shall not be more than a page or two, as it contains only summary of your objective, skills, educations, and other achievements.

Resume shall not be prepared with a lot of information; it should be designed to display only the information relevant for the job change. You no need to put all details of your education, all projects you had done or have been doing in the current organization, and skills you own. Simply make a list of the things that are relevant for the job change and mention them in the resume.

Who shall use resume?

The term Resume is perfect for the candidates looking for a job change. Candidates having a few years of experience in a particular field shall use this term instead of Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Bio Data. It is good for the candidates applying for a senior level because at that level your expertise matter more than your education.

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Curriculum Vitae is a Latin word whose meaning is Course of Life. As the name implies, it contains detailed information about your educational career, interest, and achievements. It lists out general information and achievements instead of specific skills. Because the CV generally has detailed information, it reaches to 2 to 3 pages or even more. Biological information like age, gender, religion, etc. can also be mentioned in CV along with a photograph.

Who shall use CV?

The term CV shall be used by the fresh candidates looking out to get a job after finishing studies and candidates who want to change their career. People who want to apply for some academic positions can also use the term Curriculum Vitae or CV.

This is the difference between Resume and CV. Hope this information will help you to create the best resume or CV as per your requirements.

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Who Are Your Organization's Entrepreneurs?

How useful would it be to identify the problem-solvers within your business? They're called entrepreneurs, and not all of them are created the same. The ability to identify entrepreneurs empowers organizations to effectively manage their workforce. Through research, we're beginning to learn more about spotting star performers who would otherwise become disengaged and flee — taking their new ideas with them.

Identifying these individuals is possible long before they enter the workplace. In fact, 42 percent of entrepreneurs have determined they want to own their own business before the age of 12, according to an ongoing study run by our company, Target Training International, of engineering students from 18 major U.S. universities.

Early findings from this research describe two types of entrepreneurs emerging:

Entrepreneurial-Minded People (EMPs): They tend to work well in teams, have an organized workplace and enjoy consistency. These individuals are happier within organizations or within a group of people working together to achieve a goal.

Serial Entrepreneurs (SEs): The second group is made up of potential serial entrepreneurs who have a desire to own their own business. Serial entrepreneurs tend to be more individualistic, have a greater sense of urgency and a desire to control. They have demonstrated an ability to sustain a business past the first year, into the higher growth job production years of a young firm.

Both entrepreneurial types are identified by a distinct challenge-orientation and improvement-focused mindset. But they differ in their attitudes towards control. EMPs are less concerned with the amount of control they can exert. They are happiest when they work collaboratively on a task, in a team, striving for solutions to complex or recurring problems.

The SE wishes to have ultimate control over her life and business. While happy to set direction for a company or team, serial entrepreneurs need to feel that their employer is not limiting their destiny.

Once you identify certain performers as SEs or EMPs, it's your job as a manager to retain them.

Make sure they have a forum where their ideas can be heard. When an SE shares his vision and is met with rejection, he will become disengaged and will likely resent the organization. He is also likely to not only plot his exit, but how to redress the rejection he experienced. That can translate into taking their ideas to a competitor or becoming a competitor himself. Similarly if an EMP is not allowed to engage in the problem-solving process or is asked to work independently, the same is likely to occur.

But how do managers identify entrepreneurial types? It's often helpful to put these questions to use, especially during the hiring process or a performance review.

Describe your career goals. The EMP's answer would more likely indicate he could care less about being in management and is happy where he is or where he is applying for. The SE will tend to say she is looking for advancement.
Describe your professional strengths. An EMP will focus on strengths directly related to the job in question. An SE will talk more about leadership and personal identity.
Describe things you're not good at. Honesty is important for both. Listen closely: If she claims to not have any weaknesses, she is likely more SE-driven. The more weaknesses he confesses to having, the more EM-driven he is.
What activities do you do to keep current in your profession? The EMP is interested in keeping up within his profession and industry. The SE is more focused on keeping up on broader scope, going beyond just her career and may discuss things she is reading, experiencing or sharing.
Entrepreneurs — whether EMPs or serial — already possess the behaviors, attitudes, and values to build successful businesses. Finding out whom within the workforce possesses the traits of an entrepreneur — and which type they are — will allow business leaders to work with their unique approach to business. Recruiting and retaining entrepreneurs will pay big dividends not just for individual companies, but also for the economy as a whole.

We Appear to Forget!

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Shri Manish Tiwari is a forceful orator. He is also a consummate liar. He lies by telling half truth. He is also an accomplished lawyer practicing in Indian courts. He either does not read English or he does not understand the language. His statements in the Press Conference accusing Anna Hazare of being submerged in corruption are more than objectionable because they are insults heaped upon the CITIZEN of India.

Let me say here at the very outset that the Constitution of India which is paraded as sacrosanct and supreme is neither sacrosanct nor supreme. It has been altered amended and changed more times than any other constitution in the world. It has even been made toothless. What we forget and what we must remember is that in the Republic of Bharat it is the citizen that is supreme and also sacrosanct because it he in his collective incarnation of WE THE PEOPLE created the constitution.

Dr Manmohan Singh is a Prime Minister that has been loaded on to the Indian people by a handful of his cronies. He has been imported into the cabinet via the Rajya Sabha. So the claim that he is the prime minister of 121 crores of Indian people is a lie. Shri Tiwari please note.

The Justice Sawant Commission Enquiry that was brandished in the Press Conferences had been rendered to a naught by the Sukhtankar Committee. Shri Tiwari lied to the nation by implication because he did not mention the deliberations of the Committee.

If the CITIZEN of Bharat is not given the respect he deserves by the public servants he has chosen to serve his ends – and the prime minister is the first amongst the equal public servants – then nothing deserves any respect whether it is the prime minister or the tricolour – which again happens to be the creation of the citizen – nor Parliament nor the parliamentarians.

First learn to respect the citizen of Bharat. Then and only then will the politicians deserve to ask for respect.


--Pyare Shivpuri

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Our farmers are dying, to hell with the World Cup

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Our farmers are dying, to hell with the World Cup


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India Shining, Jan Lokpal Bill, Jaago re!

Jaago re!... Courage and guts might have the same meaning but for my understanding...it takes a lot of guts to be courageous!... It's better to die standing on our feet rather crawl on our knees...

It always requires the Power of One to change the system...if you dont have the power then better support the one who has it...

It takes a lot of courage to stop the rapidly spinning wheel of ignorance...chances are you might cut your fingers but the wheel of ignorance will eventually stop!...live for the larger purpose...don't just exist!

The only first step as i see is to stop accepting nonsense....chalta hai attitude!..yahan toh aise hi hota hai....

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Our ancestors supported Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in creating a FREE INDIA...let's join hands with Shri Anna Hazare in cleaning the Corruption and make INDIA SHINING!

The sanctimonious are far too vulnerable...Dacoity by The Law Book

Dacoity by The Law Book!


I know a Person of Indian Origin named Pyare Shivpuri. I have fed him several times at my café in Nashik. He came to Nashik in connection with his dealings with the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Limited. I did not believe him when he told me that to his amazement he had discovered that MSCB was a bunch of crooks supported by the State of Maharashtra and by Sharad Pawar. I probed further and the narrative that emerged was something like this.

Around 40 kilometres NW from Nashik there is Pimpalgaon. In 1989 one Madhavrao Khanderao More established a co-operative venture there and called it Nashik District Co-operative Grape Sparkling Wine and Bye-Products Karkhana Limited which was later christened Pimpane Co-operative India Limited; raised over a crore of rupees in share capital from 3,996 farmers in the Niphad-Dindori area by making promises that he knew he could not keep; acquired the patronage of Sharad Pawar; purchased some land in Pimpalgaon valued at Rs. 47,000/= (forty seven thousand); applied to the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Limited (MSCB) for a loan of Rs. 30,000,000/= (three crores) bifurcated equally between the two institutions by depositing with IFCI the title deed of the land valued at Rs. 47,000/= and obtained that loan.

MSCB, later on, took over the entire responsibility of the loan and on 31st March 2005 borrower Pimpane owed to MSCB a neat sum of Rs. 271,029,000/= (twenty seven crores ten lakhs twenty nine thousand). Considering this background, it is not difficult to conclude that MSCB colluded with Shri More to create a NPA from the very start. Pimpane ceased production in 1993. Then in 2002 Securitization Act was enacted by Parliament in New Delhi. It gave ‘secured creditors’ the liberty of annexing the property of defaulting borrowers without having to go through the lengthy procedure of a Civil Court. MSCB took over the Pimpalgaon property of Pimpane around 2004 and since then has sold it to three different buyers; Pyare Shivpuri was the first one.

Now, the legal issues are whether:
(i) MSCB loan to Pimpane was a “secured loan”?
(ii) MSCB had the right to take possession of Pimpane property under the Act of 2002?
(iii) Pyare Shivpuri was right in demanding proof of ‘clear title’ of the property he was buying from MSCB?

The take over of Pimpane by MSCB is ‘dacoity’ – theft accompanied by force, in this case not a gun but a law book not the law but a law book. The 77 directors of MSCB – elected and nominated – including the present Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar are vicariously guilty of various items of fraud proscribed by IPC.

This little scam may look insignificant in the light to Delhi disclosures but for a Bank!
http://www.moneylife.in/article/78/9431.html

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Maharashtra’s apex co-operative bank in financial turmoil - Moneylife Personal Finance site and magazine

Maharashtra’s apex co-operative bank in financial turmoil - Moneylife Personal Finance site and magazine

Do you want to clean this mess?
You might like this, even the best and the biggest falter...leaders failed!


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About Jetmobile Americas

Click The Title Link to Know More about Jetmobile and InTimeTec...

Fastest Growing Startup!
The Founder Members...(L to R) Sandeep Jain, Matt Fratzke, Jeetendra Bansal, Dan Puga, Rakesh Sawan...

www.intimetec.com

From a small office with FOUR employees to a 50 member team...and still growing!

The Solution to your Software needs...with Trust! Transparency! Integrity!


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Interview With Technical Writers Block

Click The Title Link Above...
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Cauldron of Time: Value Others Time as much you Value yours

Yesterday, during a random dinner table conversation, the question that was put to me was what do you think your purpose in life is? Ah, the fundamental question we all grapple and often ignore. Without getting too meta-physical about it, I think there is a very simple practical answer to the question. And it is simply – doing what one does to the best of one’s abilities.

I see so many people go through the best years of their lives simply watching the clock. They go to office in the morning, put in the requisite 8 hours and come back in the evening. Same routine repeats day in and day out. But what each one of us needs to realize is that we’ve only got a limited amount of time. When you’re 25, you think the entire world is ahead of you and life is limitless. But as Yudhishthira says in the Mahabharata, “the cauldron of time cooks everyone”. And THAT is a universal truth.

So given that you’ve got only a limited amount of time, let’s take that argument further. Let’s say you’ve only got a year to go, before your time is up. Would you now bring the same attitude to work and life that you have right now? Or would you change it drastically? If the answer is that you would change it drastically, then my friend the answer to life’s fundamental question is right in front of your eyes and you’re choosing to ignore it.

When we work for organizations who we think pay us less, or a boss who doesn’t understand us, or an environment which is suffocating, we all have a few choices. And the choice is to simply leave that situation and choose another one. Or to try and change the situation. But, there is a third choice: while we’re in that specific situation, life demands from us that we give it our very best. And that is what life is really all about. If you don’t like your job, change it – but while you’re working, give it everything you’ve got. Or else you’re shortchanging the most important person in the world - you! If you think your company is short-changing you – think again. Or rather trust greater thinkers to guide you. As Krishna says to Arjuna in the Gita – "do your duty because that is what you’ve come on Earth for. Do not think of the fruits of your actions." To give it a more practical twist – I say, "do not work simply for the fruits of your labor. Do it for your love of the work itself – do it because it is your bounden duty to do so. Or else, you’re actually waking up every day and cheating yourself."

Every hour and every minute of work that you’re whiling away your time, taking long breaks, chatting, social networking, or not giving your profession your best effort and dedicated focus is a minute that is completely lost, and the biggest loser in this case is you – not your organization, not your team – but you! Because the company will keep going on or shut down – but the best years of your life won’t come back ever. So go change your job if you’re not happy. But stop cribbing and complaining and cheating yourself out of the only life you’ll ever have.!!!!!!

Value Others Time as much you Value yours

post your thoughts/articles to cafebulletin.paulscafe@blogger.com

The finger bowl

A wonderful story comes from 19th century England. According to the account, Queen Victoria was once at a diplomatic reception in London.

The guest of honor was an African chieftain. All went well during the meal until, at the end, finger bowl were served. The guest of honor had never seen a British finger bowl, and no one had thought to brief him beforehand about its purpose. So he took the bowl in his two hands, lifted it to his mouth, and drank its contents down!

For an instant there was breathless silence among the British privilege guests, and then they began to whisper to one another. All that stopped; however, when Queen Victoria silently took her finger bowl in her two hands, lifted it, and drank its contents! A moment later, 500 surprised British ladies and gentlemen simultaneously drank the contents of their own finger bowls.

It was the queen’s uncommon courtesy that guarded her guest from certain embarrassment.

This is a very rare but very effective human trait …

while the most common human trait is to look for chances to humiliate/insult someone else or be neutral when someone makes mistake & let him/her go through the embarrassment … but it takes presence of mind, uncommon courtesy to follow someone else’s mistake in order to guard them from embarrassment!!

-cnt
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Nabarun Paul - Blog on BrightFuse - A Talent Community

Nabarun Paul - Blog on BrightFuse - A Talent Community

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The Art of Appraisal (Humour)

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Big Boss: This year your performance was good, excellent and outstanding.
So, your rating is "average".

Kumar: What? How come 'average'?

Big Boss: Because...err...uhh...you lack domain knowledge.

Kumar: But last year you said I am a domain expert and you put me in this
project as a domain consultant.

Big Boss: Oh is it? Well, in that case, I think your domain knowledge has
eroded this year.

Kumar: What???

Big Boss: Yes, I didn't see you sharing knowledge on Purchasing domain.

Kumar: Why would I? Because I am not in Purchasing, I am in Manufacturing.

Big Boss: This is what I don't like about you. You give excuse for
everything.

Kumar: Huh? *Confused*

Big Boss: Next, you need to improve your communication skills.

Kumar: Like what? I am the one who trained the team on "Business
Communication", you sat in the audience and took notes, you remember?

Big Boss: Oh is it? Errr...well..I mean, you need to improve your Social
Pragmatic Affirmative Communication.

Kumar: Huh? What the hell is that? *Confused*

Big Boss: See! That's why you need to learn about it.

Kumar: *head spinning*

Big Boss: Next, you need to sharpen your recruiting skills. All the guys you recruited left within 2 months.

Kumar: Well, not my mistake. You told them you will sit beside them and review their code, and most resigned the next day itself. Couple of them
even attempted suicide.

Big Boss:*stunned* (recovers from shock) Err...anyway, I tried to give you a better rating, but our Normalization process gave you only 'average'.

Kumar: Last year that process gave me 'excellent'. This year just
'average'? Why is this process pushing me up and down every year?

Big Boss: That's a complicated process. You don't want to hear.

Kumar: I'll try to understand. Go ahead.

Big Boss: Well, we gather in a large room, write down the names of
sub-ordinates in bits of paper, and throw them up in the air. Whichever
lands on the floor gets 'average', whichever lands on table gets 'good',
whichever we manage to catch gets 'excellent' and whichever gets stuck to
ceiling gets 'outstanding'.

Kumar: (eyes popping out) What? Ridiculous! So who gets 'poor' rating?

Big Boss: Those are the ones we forget to write down.

Kumar: What the hell! And how can paper bits stick to ceiling for
'outstanding'?

Big Boss: Oh no, now you have started questioning our 20 year old
organizational process!

Kumar: *FAINTS*

Post your thoughts directly:cafebulletin.paulscafe@blogger.com

Business Realities

Businesses want to reduce cost and risk while increasing revenue. To succeed as a software developer, don't try to sell working software for less money than others; instead, reduce cost, reduce risk or increase revenue for those companies. I will discuss a few ways to do these things, and do them well.

1) Provide Guarantees.
So the other person provides a lower hourly cost. So what? Does that mean that the total cost is going to be less? Most people that deal with software contractors know that an estimate is rarely worth the paper it's printed on. That's why fixed-price and fixed-date contracts are so appealing to customers: It moves the risk from the shoulders of the customer to the selling organization. As long as the buying organization is certain to make money, hourly rates won't matter. (How do you compare $6/hour and "We think it'll take about six months" to "$10,000 and it will be done in three months." How about to "I'll take 30% of gross revenues. If you don't make a dime, I don't make a dime...and this will encourage me to make it good enough to re-sell")

2) Analyze the business and provide a better solution
Joel Spolsky once wrote that

"Customers Don't Know What They Want. Stop Expecting Customers to Know What They Want."

In other words, the attitude of "Just give me the requirements" fails because it has the customer solving the problem; the software developer becomes just a glorified technical writer that knows how to write in the language of a machine.

3) Dramatically decrease the defect rate
Are people willing to pay for quality in software? Sadly, generally, the answer is no. Quality in software is hard to measure; unlike automobiles, there is usually no crash or endurance tests to compare against, especially for custom software. Yet we all know that plumbers, electricians, and roofers with a reputation for quality have more work orders than they know what to do with. Producing software with less defects, that is usable, that does what the customer expects will net a major competitive advantage for years to come.

4) Create well-documented, maintainable code
Despite all the jokes about job security, companies want well-documented, easy-to-understand and easy-to-change systems. This allows them to reduce risk, and, as we've previously discussed, reducing risk has tangible, measurable value to a company. The great thing about increasing the value of what you sell is that you can now charge more for it.

5) Provide better feedback
If you prioritize every feature, you can work on the most important features first. A series of small releases gives the customer the most important features first and the opportunity to provide feedback. This is not a new idea; it is one of the core ideals of the Extreme Programming model, and it's an excellent way to give the customer more while costing you less. (Think about this: Most large projects run late and over budget. Many small projects do not. Instead of "biting off more than we can chew" next time, why not refuse to run a large project and instead run a series of small projects?)

6) Show the customer how you will make them money or allow them to cut costs.
This one is a no-brainer. It's easy to charge more for your services and still win the bid if you are selling something fundamentally different: This is why McDonald's franchises sell for more than Jerry's Pizza Shack franchises. Imagine the two sales pitches:

Jerry's: "Hey, for $10,000 and 3% of your sales revenue, I'll let you use my name, my sign, my recipes, my suppliers for food, cups, plates - the works!"

McDonald's: "For $1,000,000 and 8% of your sales revenue, we'll give you everything Jerry does - plus throw in a lease on a furnished building in residential area X. We'll promise no McDonald's competition (except the ones you own) in a 50-mile radius of your store. We'll provide management training for your people. In fact, here's a breakdown of our 200 stores in areas with a similar population to X, and their sales compared to expenses for the first five years of business. As you can see, since 1995, only 10 of those stores failed to be profitable within three years, and they were all profitable within five years."

Conclusions
From the last example, you can see that McDonald's and Jerry's are selling two fundamentally different things. They both seem to "solve" the same problem: "I want to own a fast-food business." McDonald's chooses not to compete on price; instead, they compete on delivered results.

Most banks compete on delivered results for investment. While they may occasionally advertise that they have low or no minimum balance, it is far more common to hear about a low rate for a loan or a high rate for an investment. If we are to survive the coming bust, we must Promise and Deliver Results. These results must substantially differentiate us from other, cheaper competition.

If you try to build a house and base every decision on cost, you will probably get what you deserve. Most people know this, and factor other things into the decision. As the software industry matures, we must learn to provide and market those "other things." In order to survive, we must stop being glorified technical writers and become businessmen...and the need for good businessmen is not decreasing, but instead it is constantly increasing.