Dare To Stand-out

God has made us all unique. Every human being has something that is not there in the rest of us. Still, we imitate, or try to imitate, others to make ourselves look like one in the herd that we value the most. Why do we do this? Is it so hard to maintain our own identity? Is it necessary to become a commodity? I don’t think so!

Humans tend to live in a group. It’s a natural instinct; I guess; and, undoubtedly it is even safer. And, I think that is the precise reason we don’t believe in standing out of the crowd. Don't be surprised if in coming years, a big majority of middle-class-and-above people all over the world have quite similar lifestyles. Consequently, we would land up “commoditizing” ourselves to be a part of our “beloved” crowd, which would then span on a global scale. Thanks to the global media, which are bringing us closer for good as well as for bad reasons. To some extent, this commoditization would definitely result good results, but, at the cost of our diversity, or, perhaps, at the cost of our uniqueness.

From a business perspective and for businesses worldwide, the more commoditized people will become, the easier it would be for businesses to sell their products and services at reduced transaction costs, which would be effected because of standardized processes that would cater to the needs and wants of all of us, at once. The sheer volume and automation would bring production costs down. And, it’s a no-brainer to guess what challenges businesses would face, if people become more of themselves.

That’s just one of the precise reasons why super-high-end brands do flourish and charge obscene amount of money for their products and services, and run-of-the-mill products and services give discounts round the year, to maximize their volume of sales, because doing so brings the production costs lower per unit, resulting in higher economic profit per unit. You see, getting commoditized is like losing your uniqueness. Did I talk any rocket science? Obviously not! So, do you agree? You must not completely, otherwise you would be me!! And, I prefer to be unique. :-)

The Outcomes of the G20 Summit

The G20 Summit, on the 2nd of April, 2009, in London, was largely successful – because of the better than expected outcomes. The world leaders agreed on the large means of reviving the global economy. But, there could certainly have been better results out of the grand meeting. I guess; it was very hard to generate more fruitful, conducive, enforceable decisions because of the lack of the clear picture of the end-to-end implications of the global, spiral downturn.

The fruitful outcomes, as they appear, of the meeting were:
1) A pledge of USD 1.1 Trillion to tackle global crisis through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), focusing to bail out developing countries. After all, developing countries are where the developed countries’ cost-centers, manufacturing hubs, cheap resources, and greenfield markets are.

2) An agreement on stimulating world trade, and regulating financial firms more stringently, with a strict focus on Hedge Funds – which willfully play with stocks on plethora of stock exchanges worldwide -- and Rating Agencies – which whimsically provide AAA ratings to sick financial instruments.

3) A crackdown on tax havens, as there are countries that provide large tax holidays to their companies to gain a cost-based, unfair competitive-edge against competitors on the global and regional markets.

4) New global rules to govern the pay and bonuses of bankers.

5) A clear-cut intent to restrict growing protectionism, and trade barriers.

The issue that the US wanted others to agree upon, but, somehow, couldn’t was that Europe, specifically France and Germany, should enact greater fiscal stimuli than they had already enacted.

The issue that Europe wanted others to agree upon, but, somehow, couldn’t was that there should be a global regulation of the financial markets – the issue was restricted specifically by the US.

Overall, the meeting was successful in addressing the concerns of emerging economies, and was a showcase of the power of emerging economies. Moreover, it gave a re-birth to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Computing Sky Will Be Cloudy

Although it is a global recession time, it's going to be a clash of the titans for an ill titan, Sun Microsystems, which has not been keeping well since the dotcom bust during 2000 - 2001. IBM is in lieu of buying out SUN for USD 6.5 billion in cash, for the sake of making computing sky cloudy. But, will IBM be left alone in its pursuit of making computing sky cloudy? No points for guessing!!!

The chances are highly likely that HP, the world's biggest computer-maker, Cisco, the world's biggest maker of routers, Dell, Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, Google, the world's biggest in online search and advertising, and Microsoft, the world's biggest and best in desktop computing software are going to take each other head on to get SUN on its side.

Well, is it worth fighting for? Definitely. The advantages are manifolds, but the two most apparent ones are:
1) SUN's poor health on the stock market, and because of which it could be bought for an under-valued price.
2) Its well-demonstrated capabilities in Data Centres and in cloud.

Titans, go get SUN, and give us cloud -- public and private.

Whose Fault Is It In the Middle East?

It's really very, very sad to see the ongoing massacre in the Middle East. And, who all are responsible for this? Who all are to be blamed? Whose fault is it?

To know the answers to such questions, here I give you the link to an article on The Guardian -- the link to the most comprehensive article I have read so far on the issue at hand.

Please note that the author of the article is Avi Shlaim, who is a Jew, is a Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, and served in the Israeli Army.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine

Endorsing the Story of Stuff

According to the Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard, this past September, the news of the economic crises dominated the headlines, but at the exact same time, another debt crisis was intensifying, yet was barely noticed.

Earth Overshoot Day, also known as Ecological Debt Day, was on September 23. This is the day in 2008 by which humanity had used all the resources that the planet will generate this year.

As viewers of The Story of Stuff already know, we currently consume 1.4 planets' worth of global resources each year. Since September 23 onward, we have been eating into the natural capital, undermining its ability to produce for the future. We are consuming on credit, and are accumulating ecological debt that we have no way to repay.

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. The SOS professes to teach you something that will make you laugh, and just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Learn, Unlearn, Relearn

Not so philosophically speaking, the illiterate are not those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” -- Eric Hoffer

Learning comes in various forms and at various stages: Youngsters simply learn just by carrying out their daily lives; people learn within institutions prior to embarking into the corporate world, which teaches entirely differently.

The readier we are for learning new things in life, the more flexible we become to cope up with challenges of life.

The sole process of learning, unlearning, and relearning gets you closer to the reality, and makes you a better being. This is how you can ride the tide of changes. So, be what you want to be, otherwise you would be what you don’t want to be.

Your Career Is Yours 2.0

With all due respect, let me start this blog as an extension to my last blog, Your Career Is Yours. I guess; a few people have got offended by my last blog. So, this one is purely to elaborate on my previous blog. What I meant by changing the job was not necessarily quitting your current employer and joining a new one. What I implied was that you should periodically change the nature of your work and the environment you work in, because doing so gives you a big learning curve, which is necessary to surmount on in order to grow in your professional life.

A lot of people have criticized me of being too opinionated. I refute them all by saying that I have, and strive for, various perspectives -- and most of the times as many as possible. And, when you have many perspectives, you can gauge the pros and cons in a much better way.

People, by nature, are scared of leaving behind the legacy that they create by working for ages. It's natural to feel scared of leaving behind that legacy for others to enjoy and bank on. But, we must not forget that we also inherit some kind of legacy when we take on something new in life. And, our motive should be to leave behind a better legacy than the one we inherit, and relentlessly keep moving on to make things better. Usually, and mostly, incumbents are scared of loosing their legacies -- and feeling so is very natural.

If we are genuine talents, we should be confident enough to take on different challenges at different organizations (a firm has many organizations, such as, Marketing and Sales, Pre-Sales, Strategy and Planning, Development, Project Management, Operations, just to name a few). But, usually, and unfortunately, at most firms, you don't get opportunities to move around across different organizations, for obvious reasons. In that case, you are unintentionally, indirectly forced to quit the firm and pursue your dream, provided you are seriously looking for enhancing and diversifying your skills.

Thus, as I said, your career is yours. So, it is only you who has to decide what you want to do. If you love your firm more than your career, you will compromise on your learning curve, but, if you love your career more than your firm, you will make all the required efforts to make your career shine. Although the opinion is mine, but the choice is gonna be yours. And, trust me, there is only one rule, and that there is NONE.

Your Career Is Yours

So far in life and with whatever professional experience I have, I can confidently say that a professional should change, close to, six to seven jobs in his/her professional career. Change is always a good thing, as it teaches you a lot. The most obvious positive outcome of change is your enhanced ability of adapting to different environments, as you rise through the rank and file of the organizations you work for.

I strongly deny that one should start and end one’s professional career working for the first organization itself. No matter who preaches that one should work for only one or two organizations during his entire professional career, I just don’t agree – even if it is God himself.

Mostly, people who don’t like changes make silos within the organization to survive and to rise through the rank and file, most of the times, killing professionalism.

So, my earnest advice to all those who are listening to me is that be a genuine performer, and be ready to embrace change. Doing so will put you in command of your professional life, otherwise some dickhead would decide your professional career, which you will certainly don’t like. Be the change you want to see in the world, and, relentlessly, keep reaching out for the helm.

Avenues For The Aging Boomers

According to the McKinsey Global Institute, without an unexpected burst of productivity growth or a significant upsurge in investment per worker, the aging boomers' reduced levels of working and spending will slow the real growth of the US GDP from an average of 3.2 percent a year, since 1965, to about 2.4 percent, over the next three decades.

The report, overall, is a very well analysed one. But, my concerns are that won't there be implications of boomers prolonging their retirements on the growth of members of generation X, who would be in their prime time, then? If yes, then, what would be the degree of such implications on the generation X, as well as on the US economy? Are there any other malleable alternatives, because simply making boomers drag for a couple of more years would not solve much of the problems the America is witnessing today, or is going to witness tomorrow?

What I, personally, think of is that the US government should chalk out a national plan to retire boomers on time, AND to put them to better use, by using them in partnering with the millennials for some sorts of national entrepreneurial programs -- or programs devised to solve the bigger problems of the America than those meant to just provide a means of earning bread and butter for the should-already-have-retired boomers.

As boomers have seen the three completely different America, their life-long experiences will give the millennials, who have been, since childhood, fed on a staple diet of laptops, cellphones, iPods and PS3, a sense of urgency in shaping the future of the America. In general, on a lighter note, it's more fun working with grandpas than working with pas. Moreover, the energy of the millennials and the cautious experience of the boomers would be a great combination, so the partnership would be worth watching. Above all, doing so will not only keep the boomers employed and well grooved to the national interests, but also give the millennials, who are, in general, poor at skills, as proved by all the recent statistics drawn on them, the hightened senses of contributing to the national economy. The government might not need to focus on building houses for old people, rather it should focus on building "new houses" under the "supervision" of old people.

For evolving the aforesaid partnership, with the support and guidance of the government, the government can have various ways and means of implementing the same, depending on the feasibility and needs of the nation. This will help the boomers, the generation X, and the millennials. In turn, this will help the world.

The Civil War Is Over

With the election of Mr. Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency of the US, the American Civil War truly comes to an end, after the much long struggle of 147 years. This is definitely good news for the rest of the world, too, as Mr. Obama is solace to the world, in every sense.

The world has been a victim of of-late Presidents of the US, especially the war-mongering Presidents. The hopeful eye of the world is now all set on the person -- who has been taken care of by God himself -- Mr. Barack Hussein Obama.

Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and North Korea, just to name a few, are all awaiting their futures that Mr. Obama is going to “pronounce” in the near future. May God give Mr. Obama the wisdom to chalk out the win-win solutions to all the problems that are much-awaited to be solved with extreme prudence.

The world needs peace, and prosperity. And, I see that peace in the serene aura of Mr. Obama. His talks give us all a strong hope. And, along with the nation of immigrants, we all are praying that he rise to the challenges, with his chin up to the sky. Good luck Mr. Obama. May God continue resting His special eye on you.