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Greetings friends, A very-very big thank you indeed. I have no words to express my gratitude for the excellent encouragement and appreciation on the first issue of your Ymag. Amidst downgrading of India’s progress chart and a debate of 50:50 chances of India making it, life remains as usual, gradually getting a little hotter. Studies have started revealing that the young India is not in a blind race of getting more money out of job but instead looks for a more balanced employer and a financially stable future. Nothing new in India. Mindset of the classifiers [baby boomers, Gen X Y Z alpha beta…] meets the reality of India. Time to say YES to progressive people care and development. Confucius said, “The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action”. Time to fully realize the power of action and keep loving it… Cheers, Rajiv Khurana Editor PS – Please don’t forget to send your feedback at [email protected]. You may even call me at 9810211256.

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The Nine Cents Solution for Life, but … - Dr. Charles M Savage

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Joining a Professional Association - Sharu Rangnekar

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10 Demandments on a Novice CONSULTANT - Rajiv Khurana

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NANOvation Meaning of Shiva

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Y Window for action loving professionals

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If egg is broken by outside force, Life ends. If broken by inside force, Life begins. Great things always begin From INSIDE!

mailto:[email protected]

Dear Rajiv Wonderful paper...liked the content very well... Burman SN Commercial Business Head (West Zone) Maruti


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#2. May 1, 2012

Compliments on, as usual, several counts --- Launching the Ymag on schedule. --- Your valuable, practical article. --- Apt quotes. --- Guidance of social media. --- Creative ideas for each alphabet of Turnaround. --- The hilarious 100 bricks parable. --- More fun around the buzz words. --- I do hope the Indian and global professionals respond with great energy, enthusiasm and contribution. Very best wishes, Dr. M B Athreya

Bravo, Rajiv! Great first issue. And I like the way you’ve evolved the heading to professionals who love action – reminding me of Karma Yoga – Selfless Service! This, indeed, is the love of wise action! Dr. Charles M. Savage

Good luck with the new idea, developed and put into action! And thank you for making us a part of it. Best regards, Ekaterina Ignatova BAMCO executive director The Bulgarian Association of Management Consulting Organizations

Hi Rajiv Great initiative. Wish you all the very best! Rekha Sethi Director General, AIMA

Hi Rajiv This magazine is an absolute delight to read… Sanjiva Dubey Vice President GTS Service Delivery , Asia Pacific

Dear Rajiv Congrats and best wishes on your this initiative. Rajeev Bajaj Managing Director, Singer India Ltd.

Well done Rajiv I like!!! Keep it up. Dr. Shiv Dhawan, TCS

Thanks for your emails, sms and phone calls. Sorry, can’t print all your words of encouragement. Grateful indeed.


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Each Saturday morning the local Kiwanis Club offered movies for nine cents for us young kids on Maui in Hawaii. Typically the films were Westerns and the conclusions always the same, the good guys rode off with smiles into the setting sun while the bad guys were dead or in jail. Imagine how I felt when I read the concluding chapter of the Mahabharata and realized this “Nine Cents Philosophy” might not really make any sense at all. In fact, I was jolted out of a simplistic sense of reality when Yudhishtira did not find his brothers in Heaven (Swarga) but instead all 100 of the Kaurava brothers. “Where are my brothers,” he shouted! He found them in Hell (Naraka). This didn’t make sense to Yudhishtira - not any sense at all. After all, these greedy brothers had been defeated on the plains of Kurukshetra for their selfishness. And this certainly didn’t make any sense to my Nine Cents philosophy of life. Does Hollywood know their model isn’t true? Does Bollywood know also they are producing amazing entertainment but with less substance? And do we, you and I, really know that it is not competition, it is not winning over the others, and it is not defeating the other companies on the battlefield of business that really counts in the end? As Yudhishtira encountered his brothers in Naraka, he realized Bhima was there for his gluttony, Arjuna for his envy, Nakula for his insensitivity, Sahadeva for his smugness and Draupadi for her partiality. Ooops, do I have any of these? Might I become their neighbor in Naraka? Scary, very scary! Our schools teach us to read, right and follow instructions. Our companies expect us to be happy in our little boxes and our economy is happy when we are unhappy and want to buy more to fill the inner void. Is this too an example of the “Nine Cents Philosophy” that hardly makes any “sense” at all. Where is the real sense to life? In 1758, Carl Linnaeus developed a very special name for humans in his Systema Naturae, his classification of all plants and animals. He called us: Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Humans who are Wisely Wise. Alas, as we look around we see another picture of ourselves: Homo Selfishly Stupid (no translation needed!). Has this Nine Cents Philosophy spread world-wide?

#2. May 1, 2012

The Nine Cents Solution for Life, but …

Dr. Charles M. Savage, author of Fifth Generation Management, has been for years on the cutting edges of leadership changes. Born and raised in Hawaii, he’s been teaching MBA Leadership courses in Germany, Sweden and India.

Dr. Charles M. Savage


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Many years before Linnaeus, it was clear to some that life had four interrelated parts: Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha. It seems my Nine Cent Philosophy focuses on the first two and ignores the second two, the Dharma and Moksha. Why is it that I should learn this truth about life in my 71st year? What if I’d understood that the Dharma is like a keel in a sailing ship, given stability in the rough storms of life? What if I’d realized Moksha is also a bit of liberation from the simplistic pressures of our Hollywood/Bollywood lives? Perhaps a real “Nine Sense Philosophy” is one that teaches us the real victory is an inner victory over our laziness (Tamasic) and our activism (Rajasic) where we discover our wiser nature (Sattvic) so for once we could be called Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Is this not a youthful aspiration for us all, no matter what our calendar years tell us? And might we help one another tap this wonderful wisdom as we rebuild our economy into one that is low-carbon, but lively and wise?

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My thanks to Devdutt Pattanaik for “Jaya, An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata.” Penguin Books, 2010

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ― Maya Angelou


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#2. May 1, 2012

Sharu S. Rangnekar CMC, FIMC AManagement Educator with considerable experience in conducting Management Development programmes. www.sharurangnekar.com

I have been a member of Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering (IIIE), Indian Society for Training & Development (ISTD) and Institute of Management Consultants of India (IMCI) for several decades. In the meetings of these professional associations, the most frequently asked question is “Why should we join a professional association? What is the cost/ benefit analysis? One of the replies is “Do not ask what the professional association can do for you, ask what you can do for the professional association?” But this does not answer the question satisfactorily, so the matter has to be dealt with the greater elaboration. In America, most of the executives and professionals are likely to be members of three types of associations: A professional association relating to their job or profession they are practicing, a social service organization like the Rotary Club, Lions Club, etc and a Church organisation depending on the denomination of the religion they practice. In India, majority of people are Hindus who have no specific religious body to join and very few are members of any religion-associated organization. Very few are members of social service organizations so the one oganisation they are likely to join is their professional association. Immediate Advantages The first advantage a professional association has is to provide a forum for get-together and exchange views on various professional matters. In their programmes, conferences and conventions, they provide opportunity of physical get-together which is of value since a human being is a social animal. They can also provide a platform for presenting common grievances to government.

Joining a Professional Association

http://www.sharurangnekar.com/


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#2. May 1, 2012

Normally, the third and most important attraction is the networking with fellow professionals for mutual advantage. Theoretically no professional has full and complete knowledge of all areas of his discipline and can use the help of other professionals in his professional activities. This is a very useful aspect – but in practice it is rarely fulfilled. People have high ego. They do not readily accept the superiority of anybody else’s knowledge. Sharing experiences for mutual advantage remains a theoretical idea because professionals would not like to give any knowledge without their own quid-pro-quo. Various experiments to create a group of consultants to give advice on the clients problems on a “policlinic” basis have never worked out. Everybody tends to overestimate his own capability and underestimate capability of others. If and when a pecuniary advantage comes out of the joint efforts it is always a problem to decide how much share each party is entitled to. So these groups have ended in failures. The problems to take up at government levels are very few. Particularly for the small consultants that does not make them feel to spend the membership fees that are involved. The associations that work fairly well are those which become social groups at chapter level and carry out activities at regular intervals which attract the members, their spouses and sometimes even the family members. In fact, a member eventually considers the time he has to be spend on the professional activities as a greater constraint than the financial contribution. Particularly in metro cities the professionals today have long working hours and find it difficult to spend time with their families. Only if the family gets involved in professional meetings, the meetings becomes reasonably successful. However, it is difficult to think of activities which can involve the families. Some of the professional associations at chapter levels have been moderately successful by arranging programmes on the following aspects:

• Problems of team-work at home • Dealing with children of next generation • Dealing with generation gap with previous generation • Games and other social activities


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#2. May 1, 2012

Long-term Advantage The advantage the professional association can provide is when the professional approaches his retirement age and faces a different problem. In his profession or job, as the person gets more senior he gets a greater status and prestige - at least from his subordinates. He is under a great time pressure since he has to spend more and more time on his job activities. The day he retires the status, prestige and time requirement go down very sharply and the person finds himself with lot of time but nothing to do and nobody to talk to. This is psychologically most disturbing since by that time, the person is accustomed to be a minor celebrity. If the person has been fairly active member of professional association he can retain some status and prestige in spite of his retirement. He can be utilized as an advisor to youngsters starting on the profession or facing professional dilemmas. However, to attend this stature, he has to carry out certain professional association work for several years. If a professional gets this stature, it is a good support in his post-retirement life. So one of the reasons a person can think of being a member of professional association is to get this stature over a period and make his retirement life more meaningful.

Obviously, this is a benefit that may come after many years and may not enthuses the new professionals joining the association. However, a professional may find the game is worth the candle since a membership fees of the personal associations can be afforded by most successful professionals – but time utilization is a problem for ever. Either he has no time to spend for professional association, or he has too much time and nothing meaningful to do.


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Consulting profession is growing faster than ever before. While fresh management graduates beeline the corridors of consulting business, the reality bite, for individuals re-building their career, is quite stingy. If you are in it for the glamour or contemplating retirement to start a new inning or have just got your visiting cards made to fill-in time for in between the jobs, be ready for learning of a different kind. The ‘school of hard knocks’ is a demanding place. There are no formulas, short cuts or sure shot ways. It has been almost 27 years since the time I realized that I was not a good manager and I became a management consultant. I share my experience through the 10 demandments on a CONSULTANT through an appropriately created acronym.

Demandments on a Novice CONSULTANT

Clarity of Outcome

Observe, learn, unlearn…

Novel ways of producing results

Seek advisors, supporter, GURUs…

Use subtle marketing

Let your work speak

Take feedback and improve consistently

Ask for the right price

Never compromise on ethics

Take care of your health

The acronym CONSULTANT is the intellectual property of the author.

Rajiv Khurana CMC, FIMC

www.thepersonnellab.com


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Clarity of outcome Which race are you running? 100 meters or a marathon. There are no rules for being there, doing something, finding another job and making a quick exit. This number is very large. Like the marathon runner, you have to be clear in terms of your pursuits, develop the right strategy, be consistent, perseverant, always client focused etc. etc. with some more etc. Observe, learn, unlearn… There is an old saying, “Very few people learn from other people’s mistakes, most of the people are other people.” Watch them. Learn from them. Unlearn faster about your old designation and position of authority. You are now going to be the Robinson Crusoe with no or very few man-fridays. Time to implement whatever you read about making the best use of limited resources. Novel ways of producing results If you give what others give, you get what others get. What is your USP? Clients don’t like just the glossy ideas anymore. They want to see the results you have produced or commit to produce. Period.

Seek advisors, supporter, GURUs… In India, we are ready and willing to help each other very easily. No one will come to you. You still have to seek. Be patient. Be persistent. It’s two ways. Be willing to give. The attitude of gratitude works wonderfully well. Why commit blunders when others can help you test your ideas and approaches? Just tame your ego and avoid being ‘Johny head in air’. Use subtle marketing Fancy brochures, aggressive mailers, mindless distribution of visiting cards to everyone in a conference, making a 30 seconds elevator speech about your accomplishments to even someone who seeks the way to rest room etc. may soon make you realize that these things hardly work. What may work could be your meaningful participation in conferences, writings, presenting papers, asking intelligent questions, following-up with limited targeted potential clients with ideas exchange etc. Make your presence felt, just subtly.

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Let your work speak Whether you like it or you don’t like it, your work will always create your ‘goodwill ambassadors’ and your ‘badwill ambassadors’. The speed of ‘goodwill ambassadors’ is comparatively slower. When they move around the industry, you will move around with them. Nurture these ‘goodwill ambassadors’. Showcase your good work carefully and gracefully. Share references spontaneously. People consider past as a good reflection for the future. Invest in your present so that you create a flaw-less past for a promising future. Take feedback and improve consistently There is an old saying, “Feedback is the weapon of champions”. The feedback from the client is your best guarantee for the sharpening, strengthening and fine-tuning your consulting skills. Go beyond goody-goody words and request them to be ruthless. Your diamond-edged consulting practice needs to be chiseled and hammered. Be diligent in your improvements. Be grateful to your clients for their involvement. Who could be better than the client who pays you and coaches you?

Ask for the right price Avoid under-selling. Avoid over pricing. Work on your costs. Include 30% - 40% for business development, administrative and accounting, self-upgradation time etc. Right price is tricky. If the clients are clear in terms of what you can deliver, they will be ready to pay. After all, good talent is always in short supply. Never compromise on ethics This profession is full of un-ethical people who have a wrong interpretation of ‘live and let live’. Sticking to ethical standards is the only way to develop your professional standing and brand. Take membership of the INSTITTUE OF MANAGEMENT CONSUTLANTS OF INDIA and follow the code of ethics recommended by ‘International Council of Management Consulting Institutes’. Become a CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT. As a CMC, you would get recognized in 47 countries. What happens if an employee of the client seeks personal financial favours? Be the whistle blower and spread his name to other professionals. Blacklisting is hard but is the only way to deal with such creatures. Take care of your health Even when you grow very big, you are still a daily wage earner. Enjoy a good health to work for your success and its benefits.

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#2. May 1, 2012

N A N O V A T I O N Mobile Paan Shop in NANO

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Shakespeare.... "Never Play With The Feelings Of Others Because You May Win The Game But The Risk Is That You Will Surely Lose The Person For A Life Time". Napoleon.... "The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, But because of the silence of good people!" Einstein.... "I am thankful to all those who said NO to me It's because of them I did it myself.." Abraham Lincoln.... "If friendship is your weakest point then you are the strongest person in the world" Shakespeare.... "Laughing Faces Do Not Mean That There Is Absence Of Sorrow! But It Means That They Have The Ability To Deal With It". William Arthur.... "Opportunities Are Like Sunrises, If You Wait Too Long You Can Miss Them". Hitler.... "When You Are In The Light, Everything Follows You, But When You Enter Into The Dark, Even Your Own Shadow Doesn't Follow You." Shakespeare.... "Coin Always Makes Sound But The Currency Notes Are Always Silent. So When Your Value Increases Keep Yourself Calm and Silent" Dr Abdul Kalaam.... "It Is Very Easy To Defeat Someone, But It Is Very Hard To Win Someone"

Contributed by: Vijay Kapoor

currently in Lebanon as CFO of a UN peacekeeping mission

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Y readers say Yes and whY-not

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Ymag is an initiative of YPROSINDIA, a social enterprise founded by Rajiv Khurana

#2. May 1, 2012

y mag - 2

Documents

action loving

professional

cents philosophy

improve consistently

producing

goodwill ambassadors

cents solution

rajiv khurana