On my way to Los Angeles, aboard the latest Boeing 777, I came across some cool/catchy developments that I was so completely unaware of! I saw the audio books as a part of the entertainment on my own personal screens along with the latest and the greatest movies and television programming. I bet the days are not far when I would be able to get any movie and any TV show ever produced right on my flight around the world. Next, as I was sifting through the programming, I stumbled upon an episode of a British documentary called ‘Brave New World’ (apparently inspired from an old novel by Aldous Huxley). What was kind of uncanny was me stumbling upon this show right after having experienced some neat entertainment features around my seat. So that got me thinking even more ....

First story of this documentary was about data mining – It mentioned the name “Reality Mining”. It is not news to anyone that the our internet searches, our e-mails, and text messages are stored and systematically ‘mined’ for information. With GPS within our cell phone, the companies are now tracking what we do, where we go, who we call – all the time – along with a precise time-stamp and geo-location. Case in point, I've been noticing how Google's GMAIL ads/deals and Google+ content are getting more and more precise/personalized by the day. It's fascinating but also very dangerous. There are moral implications as some entities may choose to use them for malicious purposes. Its close to what I noted in my book review of THE NUMERATI. If only we were allowed to own this data trail of ours. And those who wish to exploit the data would need our permission and would pay us for using our data, I would be OK with it. 

Another story in the documentary was about a city called MASDAR city, right out of Abu Dhabi. Here’s a city designed from scratch and is entirely “green”. Costing a few billion dollars, the city has GPS guided electric cars, solar electricity, and wind harvesting. It is entirely self contained organism that houses more than 40,000 people. It just goes to show how disruptive the pace of change has become, where people and firms are accelerating innovation and often leap-frogging prevailing technologies. The documentary also had a story on Neutrinos detection experiments being done around the world but I will leave that for another time.

So what are all these examples/things signalling to us? Look back 20 years and recall what the pace of change was, what the risk levels were, what kind of fears/concerns you had, what the boudnaries were. Now contrast that to today or better, contrast today's environment to what things might be 10-20 years from now. The world and its citizens are taking on bigger and bolder risks, and those are the people who are being rewarded. It just isn't business-as-usual any more!

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!

We weren’t like this before. As consumers, we used to invest a lot of time in the category/brand before making a purchase decision and very little after that. Social media has flipped that over 180 degrees. We now spend relatively little time making the purchase decision but invest a significant amount of time talking about/up the experience after having purchased the product/service.

Here are some of the things we are doing post-purchase –

1. We are discussing the experience we have had or are having with the product/service – The good, the bad, and the ugly!
2. We are influencing the decision patterns and consumption behaviors of our friends, family, and colleagues
3. We are influencing the way brands treat us as consumers and are giving them a whole new way to connect with us
4. We are showing suppliers and distributors new ways to meet our needs
5. We are influencing how brands design and build their products and services
6. We are keeping the brands honest and showing them who really is in-charge here!

Social media has turned the tables on traditional marketing and the consumers are providing a very valuable benefit to the organizations in terms of “Earned Media”. That is correct - if the brands are doing right by the consumer, they will earn the consumer’s respect/admiration and the consumer will generate more buzz than what the firm’s money can possibly buy!

So what is your firm’s social strategy? How are you making that connection with the consumer? What are you learning and more importantly, how are you bring those learnings into your operations?

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!

Amazon just bought Kiva Systems, a firm that helps automate operations within the warehouse and distribution centers. Caterpillar, Dow, and Corning are looking at ways to further automate their manufacturing lines and reduce dependency on humans by moving to smarter, more resilient machines and computers. Target is worried about the “showrooming” phenomenon and is asking its suppliers to make products that are more price-competitive. The likes of HP, Xerox, Sony, etc. are giving their products/services a very serious look as they attempt to rationalize and align to the digital/mobile/local economy. Ford, GM, and Chrysler have completely transformed their operations, from the top floor to the shop floor, and restructured their contracts with unions and staff.

What are the implications of these corporate transformations? Doing more with less, just-in-time inventory, mass customization, automation, computerization, strategic sourcing, and shorter product lifecycles are the themes of the new economy. These are the strategies that firms are pursuing to improve product quality and pricing, in order to be competitive with the rest of the world. The people that are the most hurt by these changes are the workers on the factory and warehouse floors. Most of them are just not equipped with the skills and capabilities that are being demanded by the transformed firms. In order for them to have a chance in this new setup, they’ve got to bring a lot more to the table than just hands and feet. You have to be a quick study, be adept with computers, have a keen eye for quality, and be a contributor to continuous process improvement. And you have to be ready to do all that for lower wages and fewer benefits. Oouuch!!

Some will say that this is not fair but others will say that these are things that were way overdue. Americans have long enjoyed a level of prosperity that is unseen in the rest of the world. This was a correction that had to happen at some point, one way or another. Technology has been the biggest disruptor (i.e. leveler of the playing field) here but let me tell you, technology will get America out of this hole! Staying at the bleeding edge of this digital era and finding ways to harvest emerging technologies in unimaginable ways are what will help US keep the leader position and demand/earn the price premium that comes with it.

The above is easier said than done. Where do we get all the smart people to work these opportunities? Do we spend on building the much needed innovation infrastructure or do we fund social (unemployment, healthcare, etc.) causes? How do we get the younger generation to pursue STEM disciplines which are the DNA of the digital economy? Got ideas? Share them!

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!

I have come to a realization that all of these guys who manage our money and energy are crooked to the core. All they care about is how they can make more money for themselves – let the citizens of this great country go to hell. They amply demonstrated that during the housing bubble (thanks to Mr. Alan Greenspan), then TARP (thanks to Mr. Henry Paulson), and finally the unjust war in Iraq (thanks to Mr. George W. Bush). We, the taxpayers, are now left holding the bag while these thieves (and their cohorts at places such as Goldman and Haliburton – to just name a few) have stolen all of tax-payer’s (our) money and, in most likelihood, planning their next move. Speaking of next moves, why the hell am I paying $4+ for a gallon of gasoline while we have conquered Iraq, liberated it, and can get that oil flowing freely in case Iran tries something fancy? I smell a rat there too. But I would refrain from “conspiracy theories” on this blog. 

We should also not forget that the poor and weak have historically ALWAYS suffered at the hands of rich and powerful. After the fall of Greeko-Roman civilizations, the role of populous in making decisions about themselves have constantly eroded until recently in twentieth century. So, with the current social and political layout, I personally believe that our society is more or less trying to re-arrange to the framework of medieval times where the checks and balances are eroded to the point where, the rich and the powerful can manipulate the poor through fear (remember Cheney and his famous dialogue – "If you don’t elect us then the chances of us getting bombed again are high.") and deceptions (examples listed above). I’m not trying to argue class-warfare here but only writing the way I see it. 

So, what can we do about it? Where is the root cause of this problem and how can we fix it? As I wrote before, the higher educational institutes are already mandating courses on Ethics and Morality. That does not seem to have much impact yet. I believe the problem is rooted deeper. This “all for me and my compadre and none for you all” is rooted somewhere fundamental in the way we have laid out the social structure. Some checks and balances are definitely missing. 

Any ideas????

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!

The author describes how the human brain is NOT exactly a rational machine that can make best decisions solely based on the available information. The human mind is EMOTIONAL and these emotions cause all of us to make irrational decisions. One example that I often quote myself is – I'm still holding the some banking sector stocks as they plummeted from the sky. Why? I can’t explain it. I’m just committed in this investment. This book also explains shortcomings of a human mind for us to be aware of; there is seldom one that can completely eliminate them and become more like Mr. Spock on the Star Trek. 

To start with, the author first describes the two-system model of human brain – System 1 (the one that thinks fast) and System 2 (the one that thinks slow). He gives example such as – multiply 5 times 10. The answer just pops in your head – That’s system 1 at work. Now try 123 times 56 – Well now you would have to get the slower System 2 involved. There are numerous brain teasers that the author throws at you to prove the two system model. And then he explains the interactions between the two models. And ultimately, links almost all known mind biases to these system models. Following are just a few some of the phenomenon that author tries to explain – 

• Not invented here syndrome
• Greater fool theory
• Sunk cost effect
• Inability of our mind to intuitively grasp statistics
• Group Think
• Herd Mentality

What I thought missing from the book was – how to train system 1 and system 2 for minimization of the biases in our mind. With that insight this would have been equivalent to Holy Gita to me … 

So, now let me ask you this – Is the stock market a complete farce? Is the foundation of the stock market completely based on incongruity of the human decision-making? Once you read this book – it may open your mind in ways that’ll amaze you. 

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!

Companies often focus on the traditional methods of tracking supplier performance (SLAs, audits, etc.) and all those are fine and needed, but that is the “stick” part of the equation. The “carrot” part of the equation is money, longer contract durations, and LOVE. Building those buyer-supplier relationships on a foundation of respect, trust, and admiration can go a long way in getting your supplier to put your firm’s interest ahead of their own and ahead of your competition. Remember, your suppliers are not just serving you but potentially your competitors as well. How much love you give them could be the difference between your orders getting priority over somebody else’s in crunch time (like during peak season or after a natural disaster). Suppliers are people just like you and have feelings just like you. Just because you gave them the contract and paid them on time doesn’t make you special.

In this highly networked economy where parts and services are being sourced from around the world, these relationships and their quality are becoming that much more important. Just like you are trying to size up your suppliers all the time, your suppliers are doing it you as well. For suppliers with a good name and track record, there is plenty of demand (i.e. choices). You need to start thinking of your supplier network as an “extended family” – your favorite uncle or nephew or relative. Just like you get gifts or favors from them every once in a while, you might want to return that gesture to them every so often as well. “Are you out of your mind, Uday??”. No I am not. I am just saying that you need to start thinking and doing stuff out-of-box. I am asking you to change your behavior because doing that is going to help your bottom-line. Time to connect the dots!

Being nice and playing nice with your suppliers results in improved quality of outcomes and the results will show in whatever metrics you use to measure your supplier performance. Your end-customer looks at you and your supplier as a single entity, and so should you.

Questions for you (Use Comment link below to share your responses) -

1. How do you express appreciation towards your suppliers?
2. What has worked in helping you solidify your relationship with the strategic vendors?

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!

The economy has been limping along with occasional glimpse of recovery. Government continues to pump money into the system and the Fed has kept the borrowing rates super low. With the presidential elections on the cards, there are plenty of ideas and accusations being thrown around by Obama and the Republican candidates on how each one plans to put America back in the leader spot. Everybody continues to blame Europe’s economic morass and China’s unfair policies for our mess, rather than looking inside the system that is broken on what I consider to be the 3 most fundamental dimensions of any society – education, healthcare, and jobs. Our scores on each of these dimensions continue to trail the leading economies of the world.

The number of American kids graduating in STEM disciplines – both at undergraduate and graduate level - continues to decline. The immigration policies continue to push away the smart foreign kids who come to US for higher education and excel academically. Healthcare costs continue to rise at a steady 8-10% clip YoY. Although the quality of outcomes and access is improving, that is coming at a disproportionally high cost which is something that is not sustainable in the long run. Finally, the jobs situation is gloomy – although the unemployment numbers are on the decline, there are a bunch of “employable” people who have just decided to sit this one out. With the steady stream of unemployment checks and food stamps, who wants to rough it out there in this market where you are competing with 20-50 candidates per job opening. That is assuming you have the skills to cut it in this digital and automated economy!

Back to Clint’s half-time analogy – I just think this one is going to last longer than the usual 15 minutes (i.e. whatever that translates into years). Let’s not forget that the emerging markets are facing their own set of challenges and making the necessary adjustments. We need to think in relative terms, not absolute. I feel a lot more is needed than what is being done and proposed by the policy makers. Unfortunately, there are no referees or linesmen in this game to blow the whistle and remind the players that half-time is over. You get to decide when you are rested and ready to get back on the field.

What did you think of the Chrysler ad? How long do you think this half-time is going to last? If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!

I recently learned of this project management tool while reading the book called “Thinking Fast and Slow” (Review to follow on this blog soon). The concept of Project Pre-Mortem is for the project leader to encourage the team members to find all various ways the project could fail. Sort of like performing postmortem on a dead-body to find the root cause of the demise; but only prior to project start. I thought it to be a very radical idea. 

Having seen many projects fail miserably, I was always intrigued in terms of "Where did we go wrong in planning?” and “What could we do to make the future projects successful?” Nassim Taleb (in his book Black Swan) has pretty much convinced me that there’s NO WAY of developing a fail-proof project plan. Its impossible to account for all the factors that can cause any project to fail. This does not mean that one should not plan whatsoever, of course. The key, in my mind, is to account for all the issues that one can think of beforehand (that comes with experience). This method is another tool in a Project Lead’s arsenal. 

What the Project Lead Needs to do: Before launching of the project, when all the planning sessions are over, the project lead must invite all the key members of his/her team and ask the following question: “Lets take a hypothetical scenario. We are reaching towards the end of our project, and the project FAILED MISERABLY. Take 5-10 minutes to jot down why each of you think the project could have failed.”

What this exercise will do is to make the team members think of all worst-case scenarios and weakest links on the project. The project lead can then take the necessary steps right from the get-go to eliminate as many causes of failures as possible. This exercise also tries to eliminate the optimistic group-thinking that pervades most teams can cause some members to agree to the most popular position/plan in the room – despite their doubts. 

Would love to hear your feedback on this. I’m fairly excited to implement this concept on my next project. If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks.

I’m a huge fan of Bill Clinton. I came to US around the time of his presidency and loved to watch the country prosper under his leadership. Despite his personal weaknesses, I believe he is a great leader and truly wishes to do good for people (all people) not only in the US but around the world. He started his own charity - Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) – which has become a global driving force in doing good for the poor around the world. Hence, I have been waiting eagerly for his next book to publish. After reading My Life and Giving, I couldn’t wait to hear his thoughts on putting our country back on track. And once I got it, I dropped the other reading material and got directly to it … 

 It shouldn't come as a surprise to the readers of this blog that I will side with President Clinton on speaking on behalf of the 99% rather than the 1% (in the Occupy Wall-Street lingo). The bottom-line is that the Radical-Republicans (RR) have taken the whole republican party hostage and are unwilling to give the people of this country what they deserve – a meaningful way of making a living. Their agenda seem to be fairly straightforward – let the rich get even more richer and push the middle class further into poverty. And, they use all their power, through advertising and sponsoring talking heads in the media to confuse and misguide the population. This fact is captured by Clinton in this book, where, he writes - during one of the town hall meeting with a congresswoman, someone shouted – “I want government messing with my Medicare”. In addition, another example occurred during one of the earlier republican debates - where Ron Paul (I think) sort of indicated that the freedom is all about a poor uninsured patient to die rather than government proving care and some folks applauded him for this thought. The RR have gone to the point where they would prefer a law-abiding US citizen to die rather than providing Obamacare for all. Have we reached to that level where the segregation is so strong that we don’t care about people dying as long as a few's needs are fulfilled? I hope not. 

I don’t prescribe to the philosophy that people should be handed charity either. I don’t think most democrats want this either. I like Republican Party’s core ideals of keeping the spending low and regulations to a minimal level. However, I would not mind if the government is financing plans for the people that are not as fortunate as I am! I would willingly contribute to that as well. Almost all religions teach this kind of compassion – I don’t know how RR can be highly religious and be this calloused (about poor and needy) at the same time. Also, I do believe that some form of government is definitely required. The current economic meltdown was due to NOT ENOUGH government oversight; where overleveraging of the investment banks went unchecked. Clinton compares all the countries out there that have no government whatsoever and the one that has adequate governments – and he concludes that the one that have some form of government social structure are the happiest and most content people in the world. Don’t we want to be happy?

So, now that we know that most future economic recoveries (from any future recessions) will be jobless since only a handful of people in the US can do design/development and the manufacturing is completely outsourced, where would most of people in our country get jobs? 

In his new book, Clinton gives great ideas for TRUE American Recovery (an honest buck for an honest hour of work) rather than 10% of people hoarding 90% of the profit. He gives lots of ideas on reinventing this American dream through leadership in Clean energy and biotechnology. Some level of tax increase for all and government-sponsored jobs to take us through the recession will be necessary. 

As Clinton states, President Obama is the right leader for the current times. Last thing we need is another clone of “W” to take us into yet another deeper recession while decimating our environment. Please vote for President Obama to keep our country on the path to compassionate recovery. 

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks.

Let’s start with the latest example – the Indian political parties shooting down the Retail industry reforms proposed by the ruling Congress government. The reforms would have opened up the sector to precious foreign direct investments (FDI) at a time when the sector as well as the country need them most. This is what you get when you have a coalition government made up of a band-aided, hotch-potch of political parties. What politician/party would want to risk bringing to the floor a no-confidence motion when they can comfortably continue milking government coffers until the next general elections, which are still a couple of years away? Like they say – No need to shake the delicately balanced apple cart! Manmohan Singh and the ruling Congress party would rather see the country’s economic progress continue its steady decline than show strong political will to introduce the much needed regulatory and market changes.

Let me also introduce another point that really doesn’t need any introduction – the rampant corruption that has been prevailing under the Singh-Gandhi government. Political activists have been trying hard to rally the masses and get some meaningful laws institutionalized but the ruling Congress party has brought the full might of their political unwillingness to thwart any people movement that might open investigations into their financial largesse. I guess one should be expecting much from a setup that is made up of cronies and thugs at every level of administration. Yes there are a few good men and women, but they are outnumbered 1:1000.

So as you can see, nothing can be done using a bottoms-up approach (i.e. led by people) or a top-down approach (i.e. led by leaders). Yes, the situation seems pretty hopeless and bleak, especially considering that the current government and its allies will continue to wield power for at least another 2 years. Here is my forecast given the current state of affairs –

1. Economic growth will drop to 2-3% in the next couple of years
2. The housing bubble will burst
3. FDI will continue to decline
4. Rupee will continue its decline
5. India will be replaced with Indonesia in the BRIC acronym

Times like these expose the kinks in a democratic setup and the weaknesses of a publically-elected leadership that lacks qualification, imagination, and balls. I will eagerly await the next Indian general elections and hope that in the interim, the current leaders do not inflict any more damaging decisions on a delicately poised nation and economy.

Questions for You:

1. Do you think this is a hopeless situation and nothing can be done until the next general elections?
2. Which sector(s) would you pick/prioritize for sparking India's next wave of economic reform and growth?

If you liked what you just read, please support Kazira by sharing it with your network (click on Share It link below). Thanks!