ROI

One of the most widely used terminology in MBA admissions. Your parents look for ROI when they spend money for your well being & education, you look for ROI when you spend time & money for your girl friend with whom you’re serious for a future, and you look for ROI when you invest time and healthy sex with your spouse (or sometimes from your GF also!!!)!!

So the above are not true yeah, so then why this misconception about MBA or any education for that matter? Now even if it is true, the above 3-4 cases of ROI mentioned, you get your supposed ROI in 1-2 years? Your parents get ROI when you get a job, i.e. after at least 21 years!! You get ROI from your girlfriend after at least 2-3 years (okay agreed now that this is a short time, but then what is the rate of break ups after this supposed fast ROI?!!). You get a ROI from your spouse (or maybe GF) after at least 1-2 years after marriage only. Again this is small time but then blame the way GOD has made nature and the reproduction process for humans!

MBA education is an investment for a lifetime, not for 1-2 years immediately after your course. Okay agreed you have loans to repay, you have other commitments to keep immediately after MBA. But then given the state of things in India and anyone who is knowledgeable in the MBA circle, its terms and terminologies and the colleges, the top 40-50 under any ranking, one should be knowing that the average salary in almost all these colleges is easily 5-6lakhs (okay, so don’t believe me, go and check for yourself). But then come on this is average salary, which means there are some with salary figures above this also - 7lakhs, 8lakhs or maybe 12lakhs & above. So why can’t you be that person?  You don’t trust yourself? You’re not confident? If not then you don’t have any right to be an MBA grad or at least the time has not yet come for you to be one. Maybe you need more time in the industry with some work experience before you understand the importance of MBA and its exact purpose. Maybe you need to rethink on why, when and from where MBA?

The whole issue of ROI from MBA crops up from the fact that education is privatized in India; it is a business these days!! Get it done with, and its sure shot way to glory and fat pay packages! For the colleges, it is just a way of earning money! So what happened to our culture and our traditions? In all other cases, even where it’s not necessary we put the credit or blame on our culture and traditions. America is better than us, but then we’re better than them because of our culture. Remember that scene from the bollywood movie, Swades?

हमरे पास कुछ है जो उनके पास नहीं है, और ना कभी होएगा

क्या?

संस्कार और परंपरा, और जब तक ई हमरे पास हैं तब तक हमरा कोई कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ सकता, हमरा देश दुनिया का सबसे महान देश है

हाँ भाई, संस्कार और परंपरा हमारी सबसे बड़ी ताकत हैं 

So then, what happened to this sanskar and parampra now? Our education system was never like this. It used to be gurukul system, where no one looked at ROI. Children used to be sent to the gurukul for years till they complete their education. It may be more than 10 years also!!

Bottomline: ROI is a misused term. ROI is not in the short run, but in the long run. Your MBA degree will add value and give you the desired “ROI” and also the capacity to repay your loans. But, but, but…Only if you are best at what you do and are confident about yourself. So get yourselves some of that before you speak about ROI!!

Persuasive Speech

Many students and professionals are required to hold some sort of speech either regularly or at some point in their educational span or career. The context of the speech may vary, but more often than not, the purpose is to motivate, to persuade others to action, to get something done. But it is easier said than done. For a persuasive speech to be effective, you have to accomplish a difficult task: persuasion! It's much easier to write an informative speech or ceremonial speech than it is to write and deliver an effective persuasive speech that changes someone's mind or behavior.

What makes a good persuasive argument? Why are some people more persuasive than others? Is it simply a question of good looks, a good speaking voice, or that so-called intangible quality, charisma? Paying attention to good presentation techniques will certainly improve the polish of your presentation, but simply making a smooth delivery while ignoring content will not persuade your audience.

In fact, there are several techniques, which, once mastered, will improve your persuasive speaking skills tenfold. Persuasive skills are not just restricted to the podium but can help when on job interviews, or making presentations in class.

Below is a small attempt I made in a persuasive speech for the paper Advanced Communication Analysis as part of my MBA curriculum at FORE School of Management, New Delhi.

The Situation

AMPS Corp. (fictitious company) a leading manufacturer of consumer durables, has been the market leader in various segments for more than 10 years. Off late it has been losing ground steadily, and competition has been penetrating into its target markets. As CEO of the company it is your duty to persuade the employees to devise new ways and methods, for the company to stay ahead of competition and continue to be the market leader.

Transcript of the Speech

Good Morning ladies and gentlemen

Today I stand before you bound and unable to move. So is each one of you as part of this  organization. As the saying goes, "Wisdom and intellect is every man's friend, ignorance and illiteracy, are his enemies." Each one of us, as a member of this great family are bound by multiple enemies, the most prominent among them being ourselves, our ignorance!

A circus keeps a baby elephant from running away by chaining it to a stake. When the animal pulls at the chain the cuff chafes its leg, and the baby elephant concludes that to avoid the pain its best stay put. But when the elephant grows up, the circus still chains it to the same small stake. The mature elephant could now pull the stake out of the ground like a toothpick, but the elephant remembers the pain and is too dumb to use the new set of facts—how circumstances have changed. The tiny stake keeps a two-ton elephant at bay just as effectively as it did the baby.

We too are tied back and unprogressive, like the elephant, with age old practices, systems and processes. From a small baby we’ve grown to be mature and the market leaders. But still we have not understood the circumstances and changed our decisions accordingly. Over the past few months, I’ve shared with you what I’ve heard from our shareholders, operators, developers, suppliers and from you. Today, I’m going to share what I’ve learned and what we have come to believe as a dogma.

How did we get to this point? Why did we fall behind when the world around us evolved? This is what I have been trying to understand. What I’ve learnt and understood is not shocking but pitiful. I’ve understood that we are bound by not just one chain, but many of them. While our competitors were innovating and surging ahead, we have been too dependent on old facts, on outmoded conventions, or are still basing decisions on what worked twenty years ago. We fell behind, we missed big trends, and we lost time. At that time, we thought we were making the right decisions; but, with the benefit of hindsight, we now find ourselves light years behind. There are decisions to be made, changes to be made. But we’ve not. In the meantime, we’ve lost market share, we’ve lost mind share and we’ve lost time.

I believe at least some of it has been due to our attitude inside. We added more chains, some of them imaginary, to immobilize ourselves. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven’t been delivering innovation fast enough. We’re not collaborating internally to break the chains that hold us down.

The chains that bound the elephant prevented it from moving forward and taking a step into a future with immense prospects and freedom. Now, we are also in a similar situation. But we have a second chance, an opportunity to step forward and explore the future. We need to work on a path forward — a path to rebuild our market leadership. New developments at R&D and implementing industry standards for our processes and products can open up a new path for us, to sustain, to be the best we can.

I would like each one of you to step forward, step forward to where others have dared not venture even in their dreams, to put together your thoughts, develop and innovate new ways and processes, to redefine people’s expectation of the services or products we offer, to recapture the lost market, to make up for the lost time. When we share our new strategy with the world within the next few days, it will be a huge effort to transform our company. But, I believe that together, we can face the challenges ahead of us. Together, we can choose to define our future.

This is Ajai Govind G (Section B, Roll No: 191065) signing off for now. Be back later with more!

Do get back with your valuable feedback (good or bad) and suggestions and inputs on how to improve.
My LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=64264667&trk=tab_pro

Rs5000 + 20 days = A valuable lesson in LIFE !

Me and Mr. Extravagant, both synonyms! But that’s a fact of the past now. The last 20 days has taught me something. With a strong mindset and resolve to do something better, for a change, nothing is impossible. I’ve been working for over two years now, and that too in one of the metro cities of the Indian sub continent. But that doesn’t serve as a good excuse for the way in which I’ve carried myself around and the way I’ve spent foolishly and without any second thoughts, and in the process almost becoming on the verge of claiming a bankruptcy, just like the small banks are doing in the US now. But unfortunately I won’t get any financial aid to recoup like them. So it was upon me to do something to show and prove to myself that, even in a city like Chennai life can be lived, and that too with minimum out of pocket.

I’m back home now after my first, last and the only extravaganza for the month, a movie at one of the multiplex here at Chennai, which in a metro and especially in Chennai, considered to be the most extravagant and costliest thing to do next to traveling in an auto!! Step your foot into an auto here and you'll regret it for a lifetime if you're new to this place. They'll start with the price of the auto to take you just down the road for probably a kilometer. Anyways, you won’t believe it, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, unwanted spending and debts I brought upon myself, my bank balance on the 2^nd day of this month was just Rs5000!! The immediately previous month and for many months before this, I had found it so tough to make both ends meet, with slightly more bank balances. But not this time, I had a purpose and a strong mind to do better at least once before I probably call it quits.

I’ve spent the last 20 days on basic necessities like food and travel, cut short my other fantasies and urge to buy books, hanging out with friends and other things I’ve been doing over the last 2 years. Looking back it doesn’t seem so tough now, and the results are in front of me. A valuable lesson learnt and a better perspective achieved on how to spend and how to live with what little one has. I used to think how people with low incomes could survive, not only in a metro but also in any town. What with the inflation rates becoming other worldly (The price of every commodity is rising, except one’s salary!!). But I’ve learnt something now. The more your income the more you spend. With only Rs5000 to spend and debts still left uncleared, which is piling up to huge amounts, I had to do something about my being a spendthrift. I learnt a few valuable lessons and got a few pointers from my roommate in the way he spends. Added to it a few points of my own, by pondering upon what and where I’ve been spending on without any actual need for it, lo and behold! I learnt my own practical lesson to live life KING size in my own way. In the end that’s what matters, how you think you’ve done it, and how well you’ve enjoyed each moment. I had the same feeling when I was a spendthrift. I used to roam around without paying any heed to what others used to say and I enjoyed it because I loved doing what I did. Even now I do enjoy, but in a different way and now I understand so many others like my roommate. This is probably just a beginning, but something for me to go by in the coming months and years.

Save the tiger !

Off late I've been seeing so many ads with some meaning or a message. Climate change and the adverse effects on environment has been running the show since last many months starting with the Copenhagen summit of world leaders. The global climate change, which stems mainly from the burning of fossil fuels and the resulting effects on climate, is a matter of primary concern if we're to preserve the ecological system for the generations to come. Another measure which takes prime importance at this stage to preserve the ecological system is to protect and preserve the food chain and its individual elements. By individual elements I mean the participants in the food chain. One main element is the predator or the one who consumes and sits at relatively higher position in the food chain. Human beings or homo sapiens fall in this category, so do tigers, another mammal. According to World Wildlife Federation (WWF) a quarter of the world's mammals face a high risk of extinction within 30 years!!

I for my side hate or rather would like to stay away from all animals starting from the smallest, an ant, to the largest, a blue whale!!You may call it a phobia or a fear, and in spite of many attempts I've never come to get away with this fear. But that doesn't stop me from thinking of the future, my future, their future and the future of the environment as a whole. Tigers are the largest of all Asian big cats, at the top of the food chain at par with human beings, and also one of the most culturally important and beautiful animal to exist on planet earth. But they are also one of the most vulnerable and threatened species on earth. As per latest reports and expert estimates there are as few as 3200 tigers are left in the wild!! Of the 9 sub species of tigers that existed on planet earth, the Bali, Caspian and Javan subspecies have become extinct over the last 70 years. Wild tigers number have fallen by about 95% over the last 100 years, its range decreased by 93%, and the remaining 6 sub species namely Amur, Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, South China and Sumatran also risk the same fate due to illegal wildlife trade, poaching and conflict with people unless we do something about it. If we do not respond to the plight of wild tigers and the needs of the communities that share their home with tigers—most of which is outside protected wildlife areas – we will witness the loss of one of the world’s most irreplaceable natural wonders of our lifetime.

For the food chain to persist and for the ecological balance to be maintained it is important that each and every species is taken care of from becoming extinct. by the different governments and others? Encouraging private participation in generating awareness among the general public is what I believe can make great inroads in making them aware of the importance of each species and the importance of individual and group participation in preserving them to maintain the ecological balance. In this regard I feel happy off late when I see the AIRCEL ads which run in between movies giving us a startling insight into the number of Bengal tigers, the sub species in the Indian sub continent, remaining; just 1411 !! Imagine just that many human beings. What would the world come to? Nothing. On similar lines, whole ecology and the very existence of mankind may be at stake due to tigers becoming extinct. Now that is hard to imagine right? But if you remember your science lessons in elementary school you can probably recollect the food chain and importance of each individual species in it. Well tigers and humans are both part of the chain. So tigers becoming extinct, can round up finally to  have an adverse effect on us. Not only tigers but other species also has its importance and significance in the food chain and so we should ensure and take every little step possible to create/maintain a salubrious and  functional ecology.

On February 14, 2010, the Chinese lunar calendar rolls into the Year of the Tiger. The plight of the tigers do not call for much celebration. So lets join hands to do what little possible from our side to save these endangered species. Today as I write this, I pledge and swear to take part in campaigns and promote the message to the general public. In this regard I've started following the activities of WWF and have decided to contribute in whatever ways possible for establishing well-connected protected areas, restore natural habitat and reduce human-tiger conflict. Its your take - survive and let survive or perish. So are you with me?

  

 *** Images, Facts and figures, courtesy WWF ***

"THE ME" within me speaking...

Penned down on the reverse of the train ticket for my journey from Chennai to Payyanur on 4^th Feb 2010, for my brother’s marriage reception on 5^th Feb and my sister-in-laws’ cousin sister’s marriage on 7^th Feb, my 5^th train journey in the last 4 weeks and the 3^rd one alone.

As I sheaf through the pages of a book “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri trying to read and understand & imagine the scene described in words in the pages in front of me, my gaze and thoughts are wandering away in its own world. I sit gazing at my shadow intertwined with the shadow of the window bars which form immense number of patterns as the train sped along the tracks it is so used to travel along daily, passing the shrubs, bushes and trees which bear as mute witnesses to its journey. Before my eyes danced a haze of dim flickering lights of the many houses that passed by, with people whom I’ll never see, unaware of my birth, existence or death. The many roads passing before me, curving and extending beyond my current realm or line of vision, reminds me of the roads I’ve traveled upon and the turning points in my life. It also makes me think of what lies ahead for me, which path I’ll be traversing next, where it will take me, what lies in store ahead before I complete my journey of life fulfilling or not fulfilling the purpose of my existence. My thoughts wander yet again to the life I lead now. It has been quite some time since I’ve started contemplating a change long overdue. My eyes are dazzled and my thoughts broken by a sudden blaze of lights outside. Seems to be a marriage hall, where 2 people would be thinking of their future together, just like I think of mine, in a sea of people running around me, each with their own thoughts. That familiar face, the look of understanding, that sweet smile which says a thousand words by itself without a single sound being produced is missing, long lost in the numerous friends I’ve parted ways with, over time. There was a time when I used to be surrounded by them, like a shipwrecked sailor lost on an island surrounded on all sides by the sea to as far as the eyes could see. Those best days of my life when I used to be an extrovert, without me being aware of it, seems to be in a distant past, where I existed and lived. Living and traveling alone and being an introvert is something I’d never dreamt of even in my wildest dreams, but a fact that has been forcefully thrust upon me, with friends I cherished for a lifetime moving apart, lost and confused with their own problems.

That charm, the smile, that captures a million hearts, which I boasted of once, lost somewhere where I dare not tread for the time being for fear of losing those happy moments forever. When did I change? Where and at which point did I change? What brought about the change? How much have I changed? These are questions that haunt my mind always these days. I wish I could be the same person I used to be once, at least a faint whiff of what I was. But alas! I barely recognize the me of yester years now. Feels like it was a mirror image of myself physically that lived in the past and just asked me to continue from where he stopped, but with a mind empty as a slate and a hunger to see and learn things he never heard of or could conjure up in his mind.



I’m disturbed…I’m shaken…I feel cold and numb, not because of the cold and damp air that whispers its secrets in my ears, but more because of my current state of mind, which knows not where it is leading the physical me to. I feel stiff, arrested and unable to move, not because of the confined space I’m in currently, but more because of not knowing what to do. I feel blind even with my eyes wide open, not because I’m not wearing my spectacles but more because of the uncertainty that fogs my mind about my future. I feel deaf and dumb not because I don’t have anyone to talk to and open my mind or no one to listen to, but more because I’m at a loss to understand what’s happening around.


I’m shaken from my thoughts and lamenting by my co-passengers on this journey who are making preparations to tuck into their berths into a world of dreams, asking me to switch off the lights, and hence bring to an abrupt end my chain of thoughts which I’ve penned down, quite contrary to my usual self when I just let my thoughts wander off into oblivion with no record of what conspired.

A beginning - Self realization

Well...How to begin?This has been a question running through my mind since so long. It’s been long pending and I don't think I can hold back anymore. I’m a full cup now and I need to empty it to improve, to improvise and to make it big. To empty it I need to do something and it’s been 1 year since I started thinking, and now I’m at saturation point. Nothing can go in and lots need to come out to make space for more. Now if you still haven’t got what I'm talking about here, it's my mind and my idea of writing a blog!!


I started off many - Mysore travelogue, Home Alone etc would be the titles to name a few. But all those works of art stopped after 1-2 paragraphs because laziness is a disease which is paralyzing. Manali – land of snow, Random Thoughts, A Train journey etc are few others which I had thought of but then never even started with. Neither my hands moved to type in the words nor the right words and full idea came to mind because of the laziness which had crept in and eaten into my whole mind and body. Now, I could just sit back and laze around cribbing and complaining that this was not right, or I could do something about it to overcome this deadly disease. I was doing the former till now. But off late I’ve started understanding that Actions speak louder than words. So I regularly try doing the latter hoping against hope that sometime in near future I’ll change. What better time for it, than at the advent of a new year? I can finally take some resolutions which I should stick on to, unlike in the past when resolutions used to be bubbles.


Here I try to look back and ponder upon a part of my thought process, defining what has made me what I'm now, and how I plan to find an antidote. I stepped into these shoes, of an IT professional, exactly 2 years back on Dec 3, 2007 with no hopes and aspirations here. In the first place I never wanted to be here and that is the most demotivating of all factors. My hopes, dreams and aspirations lie elsewhere (More into the details of that later, maybe one of my coming blogs. But first I'll finish off this and try finishing the others which got designed but never took shape). You don't need to have any particular hopes or aspirations here to catch this deadly disease. I came, I 'got' conquered!! People with aspirations and dreams to make it big here, beware!! You might come in for a rude shock in a very short span of time. It’s all rosy and tempting when you look at it from outside while what happens inside is as if all hell has been let loose. The level of monotonousness associated with the job is really frustrating and demoralizing and a disease that eats into your brain. People who dream big and aspire something else can’t stay on for more than 2 years. They’ll need a change like I do now.


How did I end up being here and struck down with this disease? Well that’s again another big story which I’ll detail in later, but a few pointers about it in brief. MBA – The dream destination and aim for anyone looking for a shortcut in life. I started off preparations for it hearing about the figures with uncountable zeros at the end as salary, less work pressure (which is not true), many people to order around etc. First 2 years ’06 and ’07 was wasted with the rosy pictures for immediate future in mind. Third year in ’08 when I wrote I was a member of the bandwagon of IT professionals, and still had not learnt my way around the jungle. I still had lots more to traverse, to learn that there are better things in life, than sitting in front of a computer sweating it out for someone who sits on the other side of the globe and you’ve never seen and probably will never see in your life. Now I believe that time has come, time for change that has been long waiting. I would like to consider this blog a precursor to that very change I’ve been in search of. Some things have been left unsaid all my life. Now it’s the time to wake a sleeping giant, to bring out the best in me, to do and say things which I've been keeping to myself. It’s always Better late than never!

To be continued…