Reflections

A Few Thoughts on Skill-Set Obsolescence One of the in-vogue-things in the modern world today is the suspected onset of AI etc enabled job losses. It came to me in a meeting yesterday, when for the first time I was confronted with the impact of technology on Jobs. . It came to my mind - so what is new about this? Throughout history in-demand Jobs, Skill sets have been changing; this is actually par for the course ... ledger accounting of the 70s has now given way to computer based accounting, for just one example; manpower intensive production of the earlier times has given way to leaner systems, for another example. Image Credit : Canva, Photo by Matan Segev WHAT IS NEW HERE? What is new about this shift from one skill to a newer one, basis technological change? Nothing... this has happened before, and will for sure happen again. That is the nature of life itself! Admitted, this time the scale is larger due to the pace of technological advancemen...

I don’t really know why I purchased that shaving alum; I was at a medical store, I just spotted it in the shelf top glass display. I just asked for it on a whim, as in  “dekhein toh sahi” types; and took it home. Started using it, aside from my regular after shave lotion. After a period of time, say a week or so, I began to notice that my after shave lotion doesn’t burn as much; that my skin feels real soft as I run the alum over it, and feels nice and relaxed. I shrugged the thought off – I mean, it was after all, just a piece of alum and I was doing basically a relatively unimportant daily ritual. Not worth doing any brainstorming, or so I thought. Until that day the alum ran out – what lives must die, the immutable law of nature. Well, I mean – it was just alum, wasn’t it? No big deal. I still had that Lotion, nice perfumy in a decorative bottle, one which cost one hell of a lot {that is what it seems like now}, and one that I was used to. My skin, who happens to be ...

This is the second part of the article of  Is This Business? Professionalism? Planning? Management? We looked at some real-world examples of the result of unethical behaviour in the Corporate World in the previous post linked above; these can be easily added to by the simple means of a google search; any number of real cases will appear for ready consideration. As I asked in the conclusion of the previous article, why does this happen?  There is no simple answer to this; I personally refer to this as the Ethical Dilemma that each new employee is faced with. At this juncture, let us all move away from the oft-repeated excuse that we are a corrupt society, and this is the way things happen. That is not the issue here; the focus here should be to understand the underlying factors that result in on-the-job unethical behaviour, and how are they rooted in core corporate concepts, processes and methods.  It is only through such an exercise that we can evolve n...

1) An employee of a top Indian firm was physically roughed up and beaten up in the market in 2010 2) An employee of a top Indian firm was held by the local distributor as old claims were not settled 3) An employee of a top Indian firm was held by a channel partner due to old disputes 4) An employee of a top Indian firm was stabbed due to on the job disputes 5) A few employees of a good Indian firm were stabbed due to internal disputes 6) An employee of a good Indian firm was shot to death due to channel disputes This is Sales? The above is professionalism? The above-mentioned is business? Are we in Business, or are we in a combat unit? If that is the case, then I am better off not knowing such excellent and praise-worthy tactics! I readily admit I dont know anything about Sales! These are not isolated cases; there are the outliers in an extremely disturbing trend that I have spotted in some industries. The trend can be seen in the rising num...

How Aravind Became The World's Greatest Business Case For Compassion The Story Of a Hospital That Provides Free Treatment To The Community, And Is Yet The Best In Its Field In Terms Of Technology, Skills, And Throughput By Pavithra K Shenoy and Suchitra Shenoy Infinite Vision is the real story of a phenomenon, an anachronism that belongs more in the Satyug or Tretayug than in the modern cutthroat Kalyug, Anno Domini 2014; an absolutely unbelievable and yet completely true story of a family who redefined the concept of life, living... and Medical Care in the Modern World. A book that is guaranteed to take your breath away, a book that will challenge - if not actually change - the way you look at the world; a work of art, and a book that should be required reading in schools. I wish I could rate is 6 stars out of 5... stunning...  This is the real story of Aravind Eye Hospital - of how one man, one single man went about doing the impossible. The story of one ma...

I am penning this article based on my experience as a corporate guy with nearly 16 years work experience cutting across Indian companies, as well as MNCs. What makes me slightly different is that I have been a visiting faculty in 3-4 management institutes, and have managed to develop relationships with quite a few students. These institutes range from top ones to unknown ones, and thus represent the entire cross-spectrum. I am also an active blogger, and regularly attend blogger meets across platforms like Indiblogger and Blogadda, where I meet and mix with teens, 20-somethings as well as 30-somethings. Thus, I have seen the so-called "unskilled" people at 4 levels - * hiring manager; * team leader / area manager / segment manager / regional manager; * Professor and/or guide * Friend, or group member, having been talking to and conversing with them as one of them. THE BACKDROP As I observed in my previous post on this - The Great Indian Skill Gap , the so...