Kazira

At first, when I heard of the term Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) – I thought to myself, this is cool – especially for those of us who didn’t scope too high on our Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test – and for those who have always sensed a bit standoffishness from those who scored high on their IQ test – finally, there is another measurement of capability where we (The less fortunate IQ deprived folks) would be able to turn the table around. I’ll show you now Aagashe (He was an all around topper when I was studying in Mumbai). As you can tell, I used to be very naive and hyper-competitive during my adolescence.

Emotional Intelligence is a term well researched in the past but was popularized by a psychologist turned reporter, Mr. Daniel Goleman and his best seller book – Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ . Wikipedia describes Emotional Intelligence Quotient ( EQ ) as an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups . So, emotional intelligence is a measure of your zeal, determination, motivation, persistence, hope etc. It is also a measure of how well you can regulate your mood, frustration, empathy and also how well you play with others etc. There is another way of looking at it – if IQ is your measure of rational brain; EQ provides a sense of your irrational side.

There is no equivalent bench mark test to measure your EQ (Good!!! Last thing I need now is another test score to tell me how ungifted I am).

So, why bother with EI or EQ at all? How do I figure where do I stand on the EQ spectrum and could I improve my EQ? If I can improve it – How do I do that? Or is this just another technical term that psychologists use to explain why some folks with mediocre IQ excel above their more IQ-gifted peers????

It turns out – EQ is an emotional quality in you that you use most to succeed in life. A well balanced, less temperamental and stable mind is more useful to succeed in life than an unstable, temperamental, and erratic logical brilliance. Who would you rather have; a boss with calm-mind that gives you constructive criticism or a yelling maniac who is always stresses you out…

Unlike IQ where test scores, which generally do not change much after the teen years, EQ is a set of skills learned throughout life. By understanding ones current EQ individuals can begin to implement effective action plans to improve their emotional intelligence. By learning to be aware of the power and wisdom of emotions in themselves and others and achieving the balance between logical and emotional approaches, individuals can become much more effective in their roles as managers, workers or co-workers.

EQ spectrum for any individual contains a measure of the following emotions –

a) Happiness/Sadness

b) Anger/Cheerful

c) Stress

d) Gratification (Delayed or instant)

e) Empathys

f) Self awareness

g) Anxiety

h) Depression/Optimism

i) Ability to resolve conflict

j) Social skills

k) Impulse

l) Aggression etc.

So, how do I improve my EI? First trying to figure out which of the emotions mentioned above affect your performance. Which of these emotions completely and negatively overtakes your life once in a while? Then work on those using specific self help plan developed with friends, family or a therapist. For example, if anger is the one emotion that causes you mental and other social issues – Count till 10 before you say something hurtful – Deliberate long breaths for a few minutes dissipates the anger quickly – Wait for 24 hours before you send that scathing e-mail etc. are plans to help yourself manage your emotion in life and at work place.

Last thing I want to bring into these discussions is ‘Religion’ – But it turns out – Silent prayers, meditation, and contemplation plays a bigger role in improving your EQ.

OK. I’m sick of people of complaining about how dysfunctional the company that they-work-for is!!! So I’m writing this blog to at least start the thought process of what an ideal company aught to do – Yeh Yeh don’t tell me you want to work for a company like GOOGLE or the World Bank just because you heard that they have great benefits – there has to be more that what these companies do that would constitute a GREAT PLACE to work … If not, at least develop a comprehensive list of all benefits that Google offers. And don’t tell me that an ideal company is the one that makes adult toys and an ideal job is in this company’s testing department (my current boss gave me this as a response when I posed him the question on what an ideal company is?).

Let me be honest; I have not yet worked for a company that I would label as good (let alone the best) company in the world – but I travel a lot and have met a lot of people from different companies and have visited several companies that perform diverse functions – from behemoth’s such as Boeing, Lockheed martin, and Northrop Grumman to a small business that perform innovative research and system development; all the way down to a company of 2.

And on these travel and visits to different companies, I have observed or you can say sensed a certain energy that pretty much gave away, in advance, how the company’s performance is going to be – Then I have confirmed this “initial gut feeling” by noticing the quality of work performed by the company. So, I picked up on a few things that a GOOD company does and what mistakes some of the bad ones make.

OK here the disclaimer - Once I have most of these benefits and their feasibility solidified in my head – who knows – I may start a company with these basic principals – I’m currently struggling with my own demons that restrain me to implement these ideas in the form of a company.

OK, with all these caveats – lets start – what would be a good company do and why? Here are some BROAD BRUSH ideas (that fall under Profit Sharing, Employee Empowerment, Management Optimization, and Enhanced benefits) –

• EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP – An ownership of the company by the employees will get the best employee friendly policies to be implemented. Ownership reduces the resource wastage within a company and motivates people to do more for their benefit.
• IDEAL MEDICAL COVERAGE AND RETIREMENT PACKAGES – Like I said – we are all working so we can keep ourselves healthy, happy and then eventually retire peacefully. By establishing an employee body, the company can ensure that the employees are getting the best as far as the medical coverage are concerned and also are hiring the right investment company to take care of their retirement – 401(k).
• HIRE THE BEST – A company that actively tracks talent while they are studying in college and then entices them to join the company once they finish studies will guarantee the best of the lot coming and working for you. A constant touch with the educational instituted that produce talents for your field of work will ensure an easier transition. A constant research funding to these professors will guarantee that the talents will come across your company’s need before they graduate. This way, there would not be any need for internship etc. If you are looking for experienced talent – then entice them from your competitors with better benefits.
• FOSTERS INNOVATION – How does one company does this? Check out the web link http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/how-to-foster-innovation/ for some ideas.
• RETAIN THE BEST AND LET THEM GO IF NECESSARY – When you hire a talent, go through their plans in life in detail. If they have not responded your question of “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” during the interview – let them sit and ponder that question for a while. Ask them to chock out a plan for their life for the next 5 years and then make them follow that plan. Make them take the STRENGTH FINDER test that I mentioned in an earlier blog titled “know thyself”. This way the manager and the person hired would know exactly what his/her strengths are and how to properly utilize them for mutual benefit.
• ENCOURAGE TELECOMMUTING – For those who can – for those who have well defined tasking and due dates, and do not require customer interfacing, mentoring, or other employee interactions – must be allowed to telecommute as much as possible. As a matter of fact, in general, for all employees, the work day should be task-driven rather than clock-driven.
• HAVE A SINGLE MINDED GOAL OF THE COPANY – A company that has a well defined goal usually succeeds since they create a cult like following in the company to achieve success. A quantifiable measure of company performance (Other than the revenue coming in) and making it available to the employees on a regular basis also helps.
• SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE – an ideal company would have to comply with this, if applicable. This is a no brainer. More on this in a later blog.
• PROVIDE DESIGNATED MENTORS FOR THE NEW HIRES – Every time a new hire joins a company, have a mentor assigned who not only provide day-to-day tasking but also provides help achieve the short and long-term goals established for the employee.
• OTHER BENEFITS – Provide them additional benefits such as money and recognition for publishing – sabbaticals after certain time of employment in the company. Free time for creative thinking and ideas persuals (Approved by the managers, of course).
• ON SITE DAY CARE – There is so much of lost productivity due to folks concerned about their kids – Having kids on site will not only provide them with peace of mind but also make them more productive.
• GIVE THEM TOOLS TO BE SUCCESSFUL – Hardware such as Laptops, BlackBerry’s etc. and not to forget – ‘regular training’ to keep them upto speed with the advancements in your field.
• FIND AND ELIMINATE FAVORATISM WHENEVER AND WHEREVER POSSIBLE – Self explanatory. There is no escaping this but energy must be spent minimizing this.
• RESTRICT ETHERNET ACCESS – BUT PROVIDE HALF AN HOUR A DAY OF SURIFNG ON THE COMPANY TIME IN AN OPEN INERNET AREA – Internet is not only a source of distraction but also provides a great arena to waste the company time away. Taking uninhibited Ethernet access away (by publishing hours spent ‘non work related’ surfing to each employee); and providing them with internet access for half an hour to check their personal e-mails or to order the books from Amazon does not hurt.
• OUTTA BOY – An Occasional praise for the employees gives great confidence boost – Team outta boys also work.
• MONTHLY LUNCH HOUR WITH THE COMPANY EXPERTS – Have experts in your company provide brief primer on the new breakthroughs that they are working on or issues that they are tackling. Who knows which team member would have the right answer for them?
• OPEN ACCESS TO COMPANY DIGITAL LIBRARY – This is the brain of the company – everything that an employee produces (be it report, presentation, paper, analysis, patent, ideas, code etc.) must be properly organized and must be accessible to all.
• GIVE THEM STARBUCKS AT WORK (FOR GOD SAKES) – You know, I have seen too many talented folks wasting their precious time and energy going to Starbucks nearby – give them the best of coffee (Yes, including an espresso machine) right there in the company kitchen area. This will save time and enhance productivity.
• HAVE A FAIR YEARLY EVALUATION – I have no idea how to conduct fair yearly evaluation – Still trying to find the best. All that I have seen so far are so dysfunctional – everyone has lost faith in those. Someone need to find a good way to do this – If you have any ideas, pass along.
• ENCOURAGE SAVING – Some ideas currently being implemented in some companies is – to give additional yearly raises to folks who pledge it all to their 401(k).
• HAVE A SIGNIFICANT INTERNAL R&D – Those companies that reinvest significant chunk of their profit into investigating newer and better ways to do business succeeds in the long run.

Till I form my own company with these values – enjoy your work – stop complaining – do something about it … If you have more ideas – do pass them along. I’ll keep working on the list ….

A few years ago, I had heard of the news of Wall Street firms attracting scientists from various disciplines, such as sociologists and quantum physicists. I could not understand why? Why would the firms that work in the area of financial analysis attracting these experts in physics, psychology and sociology in addition to the MBAs and financial analysts from around the world? What do these expets bring to the table that is helping these financial firms out?

While I was struggling with this point (always resident somewhere in the corner of my brain) I noticed another phenomenon – all of the my friends who I consider financially savvy (some of whom I consider investing geniuses) began reporting that the market has become more and more erratic and that it is becoming more and more difficult to make any money on the stock market. One of them said that the days of “buy low – hold – and then sell high” are way gone. He then mentioned a new investment strategy surfacing recently – that the only way to make money in this market is to “PLAY THE MARKET MOMENTUM”. In summary – buy a stock that has the positive momentum to go up (I’ll outline details this philosophy in detail in a later blog) – and then sell after a few days when the “steam” or the “momentum“ is gone. He said that the conventional way of investing (by looking at the health of a company by their market capitalization, Profit/Earning ratio and other financial indicators) are a thing of the past – He added that most companies are “playing” the stock market by posting profits generated not by true sales but by clever accounting. He ended his argument to support his philosophy by saying that “all of them are a bunch of crooks.”

Then two things happened – The sub-prime mortgage collapse and George Soros published his latest book to describe a new paradigm in the financial markets. And putting two and two together by looking-at the stock market through ‘George Soros lens’ – things started to make sense to me …

George Soros, a legendary investment banker who made gazillions on the stock market as a Hedge Fund Manager and independent investor – in this book on the philosophy of boom and bust – is summarizing his life-long and deeply-held beliefs on THOERY OF REFLEXIVITY. Being a Hungarian immigrant to the west (from Nazi oppression) and then making it big in the free world by using his piercing insight on the subject of “impact of human behavior on the financial markets”. He, by the way, commands a cult following in the investment world – While reading this book, I got the feeling that this (probably) octogenarian would like the world to remember him as a philosopher rather than a “money hungry” hedge fund manager who made it big by “playing the system”.

In this book, Mr. Soros takes on the recent debacle in the political arena and on the financial markets – and validates his theory over the conventional theories of economics (that are based on the assumption of Perfect Knowledge and Perfect Competition). Mr. Soros contests that the humans are irrational by nature and thus the conventional laws of economics (That assume rational behavior on the participants and independence of supply and demand) are flawed by extension. These flaws in the conventional economic theories fail to explain the booms and the busts that we have observed in the past decades (Some more painfully than the others). Be it the DOT COM boom and bust, be it the housing market boom or bust, be it the financial market boom or bust, be it currency market and commodity market boom (hopefully with a bust) – Mr. Soros says that these phenomenons are prime examples of Theory of Reflexivity. His theory is not applicable for only the financial markets but applies to any scenario where human interaction takes place (He calls the irrational human behavior as the manipulative function).

He adds that the he has used the stock markets as the example to validate his theory because in this case quantifiable artifacts are readily available. Reflexivity develops and can be controlled by regulations – but when the human irrationality or the biases go out of hand (without proper or any regulations) – reflexivity takes the form of a boom following by a bust. Hence, this manipulative function on part of participants of the system to the causes the erratic behavior of the system. So, going back on the fact of why the wall street giants attracting experts in fields other than finance – the investment bankers have realized that the classical economic theories are all false and they are actively hiring the Sociologists and the quantum physicists to explain the way things are goings, develop a model based on a new theory and try to predict the stock market behavior.

I’ll be eagerly waiting for someone to publish details on a new theory (based on Mr. Soro’s philosophy) so I can FINALLY start making money on the market.

A DEFINITE MUST READ for those who seek the truth…….

Once you get your first job, MEETINGS becomes an integral part of your working life. I personally have been in working environment where meetings pretty much took 25% of my working time. Many a folks have to deal with more, they travel 25% of their working time and then attend more meetings to update the team on their travel. No matter how much – meetings are important and can be effective when conducted effetively. Now there are several types of meetings –

• Stand up meeting

• Weekly Status meeting

• Monthly Status Meeting

• Quarterly ‘State of the company’ meeting

• Technical Meetings

• Program Status Meeting

• Proposal Related (Red, blue, orange Team) Meeting

• Other smaller Team Meeting

• Brainstorming Session

• Working Meeting

• ‘Just two guys shooting the breeze’ Meeting

• And so on .. and so on ….

And just like real life, where your popularity is based on your personality and your personal traits – getting an invitation to attend a meeting signifies your social and work stature. There are some meeting that you would like to attend and won’t get invitation and there are some where you’ll be invited to one – and you would rather be in a ‘Tin Chewing Contest’ than to attend those meetings. It’s a fine art of balancing your network to be a part of just the meetings that you would like to attend.

The intent of a meeting is to gather the whole team or a part of the team to either –

a) Keeping your team upto speed on the program/project

b) Setting weekly/monthly priority

c) Update everyone on the progress

d) Check on the status

e) Get some critical activity addressed immediately

f) Show who is in charge

Just to outline one worst case scenario – I have been to some meetings where the meeting was the only place where that particular work got done – When we left the meeting no one followed through their actions and then we were called for another meeting just to force us to finish the task. And then there were other meetings where some of the key members of the team – who were not on the talking terms (Yes this is real not fiction) – and a team meeting was the only place to get them to communicate with each other and the team (Talk about team dysfunction).

On the positive side, I have been to meetings where some of the critical issues were resolved only because right folks were present to discuss and provide their expertise (But these were few and far between).

Here are a few signs of a meeting which may be worth attending –

a) Has a lead identified

b) Has a clear goal/objective

c) Posts a clear agenda

d) Agenda is posted well in advance

e) Post time frame (in chunks) for agenda item discussions

f) Clearly identifies ‘must attendees’

g) Identifies the key discussion points (Meeting minutes) and action item list from previous meeting

            a. If a first meeting – then provides all relevant information

h) Span of less than 2 hour – If more then has plenty of breaks.

Also some of the key ingredients that makes a good meeting –

a) No one is restricted from speaking their mind

b) Someone takes the meeting minutes and action items and follows them though

c) Circulate an attendees list that identifies who were in attendance

d) At the end of the meeting, go through the action items so every one has a clear understanding of them

e) Clearly identify the next date/venue and tentative agenda for the next meeting (if it is a recurring meeting).

I have heard of cases where; to limit time wasted in meetings – the chairs posted notional $/min of the companies money spent at that meeting (based on the attendees of the meeting). This kept folks motivated to finish the meeting on time.

I’m personally in favor of a weekly team meeting to gather information from all and to provide priority for the week to all. In addition to this, a quarterly ‘Company Wide’ meeting to provide status of the company is a useful one. Besides those, most of the other working meeting must be kept at a smaller level and should include only those who need to be involved.

I must make a point here to the new comers, you may have to impose yourself onto some of these meetings – This is perhaps the only way to get invited to some ‘important’ meetings’. There is a good chance that you may be asked to perform minutia during it – But, some of the meetings are great learning experience on company’s character and the dynamics of the folks within the company.

Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making

by David Rothkopf (Author)

You know, when did I first start thinking about the possibility of a small group of individuals pretty much running the whole world? It was during the time when I (along with a lot of my friends) lost a significant chunk of our hard earned earning betting on the hyped up stocks on the Wall Street. We wanted someone to blame for our losses and we, rather than blaming our greed, conveniently blamed it all on the bubble and then subsequently to Allan Greenspan for bursting that bubble. We collectively blamed a single guy for evaporating trillions of dollars from the market, our pockets and the economy – “Could a single guy posses such power?” We wondered. And if this is true – who controls such person and “could the decisions made by such person be modified based on political and personal objectives?” Then came Greenspan’s book and him telling of how the current White House (2004-2008) was the most intrusive when it came to deciding the fed market policies. Wow .. I wondered, so the power is concentrated with a few and the political elites do use or abuse it for furthering their own agendas … I don’t claim to be naive here – I had an inkling – I don’t wear any idealistic glasses when I look at the real world – but this is hard fact, as told by one of “those” (in the know). And then came this book – writing about this phenomenon in black and white. Now, after reading this book, when I think of the past events and read current news, I can now almost find artifacts to substantiate the above theory all over the news articles.

Now lets come to the stock market these days (June 2008) – How could it be? that the stock market keeps doing the roller-coater ride for the past 8 years and all the reporting in the news paper and in the financial magazine is that – its because the “job market lost jobs” or “consumer spending is low” or “consumer sentiments are low” or “the price of oil is a bit higher”. I agree that these factors do play a role on the market but how could the “consumer sentiments” be low one day and a big Markey hurray the next – Something is not right – The market is moving too fact and all the financial reports are left with is the weaker argument of all the quotes above. These can’t be freak accidents, because freak accidents do not happen on a daily basis – like the ones reported lately. There are a group of individuals – not conspiring, but acting in their own interest and using their enormous influence fulfill their goals (The oil companies, or the oil future’s traders). Meanwhile, us, the middle class, is left hanging watching the stock market like a dog following the tennis ball on the court while paying $4 a gallon for gasoline.

Getting back to the book – here is a book that we can all relate with. A book, finally, that dares to expose the big elephant in the room. The emperor REALLY is not wearing any clothes … Long a favorite subject pushed along by conspiracy theorists; here is a well researched book right from the middle of this class that not only does exist but pretty much runs the whole world (The author speculates about 6000 of them around the world) … Reading this book was equivalent of someone giving me a code to see the world differently. And seeing the world, now, decoded, it does look different. Specifically, the book first outlines the fact that this class does exist, they do meet on a regular basis (be at DAVOS, or trilateral commission or other Asian or European Elite clubs) and divide up the pie conveniently between them. The underlying assertion here is that this group pretty much looks after their own need and greed and cares a little for the rest of us (Apparently 10% of the folks on top control 90% of the wealth). The book also mentions that the Superclass is a close community but a dynamic one – You may become a part of it if you control the lives of “many” human beings. The book gives laws for being a part of the superclass – and they are no means politically correct – Some of them include – “You have to be a man”, “You have to me Anglo Saxon” “You should attend Harvard, Stanford or University of Chicago” and “You have to be lucky” among others. A nicely written book and a real eye opener – Verbalizes every aspects of the social structure that you sort of perceive and assume conspiracy theories around it – and at the same time provides a good understanding of the superclass elite; their strengths – their weaknesses – etc.

A DEFINITE MUST READ. The book also asserts that the world has become a different place after the “globalization” phenomenon has reached its peak. As a result of this, the national boundaries do not matter anymore – And the whole world has to comply by the rules set by a few multinationals and a few political elites in the top tear of the countries around the world. These developments, the author mentions has reduced the size of the middle class around the word. As we all know, a larger middle class in the society is good for democracy – The larger the gap between the “haves” and “have wanna be” – the more autocratic society gets and at the end of the day a mass of people suffer which inevitably leads to revolutions. It is Mary Antoinette’s “If you don’t have bread to eat – then eat cake” scenario approaching closer day by day.

As I read this book, I felt like this world has evolved into an equivalent of an Indian CASTE system – If you are born poor or a middle class – there is a high probability that the “system” would try to keep you that way … And vice versa if you are born rich. So, rather than being classified (casted) based on what you do – you are currently being casted based on what you possess. I got a first hand feel of this when I walked in posh clothing shop in Beverly Hills (in my Jeans and T’s) and the looks on the girls behind the counter pretty much gave it away – Now I know how a low caste person entering a higher caste temple in India felt like …

At the end of the day – I drew the same conclusion that I drew on multiple occasions when I pondered similar questions about the fate of our world – It is really up to us, the people, to come together and collectively make the right decision about our lives. Decision made under fear (for example another terrorist attack or gasoline prices) often leads to wrong people in the positions that make the highest impact in the world. This country of ours offers great opportunity for folks to appropriately use their vote and chose the right people in the political office to do the right thing – if we don’t use it wisely, then collectively, we deserve what coming to us … God Bless us all …