Monday, February 28, 2005

NRI's rejoice

All NRI's who read this blog-rejoice.Read the small snippet of news below and remember you read it here !

www.rediff.com/money/2005/feb/28bud54.htm

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Why India?

Many of you may be wondering what is real charm of India.

It is the passion with which we do things.It is truly inclusive and in most cases (not all) merit alone decides the capability of a person as even today a manager can fire or keep people on the bench (without actual work to do).

And what is life without Passion ?


Also look at the facts below too.


Human resources

India has over 1.2 billion people with its colleges graduating over 3,000,000 students a year. This has created a large resource pool.And these people are young too.

Advanced Education

India has an ancient tradition of education. Its 250 public universities, 1500 research institutions and over 10,000 colleges graduate over 300,000 master level students and 180,000 PhD and MD level students a year.Should more be said!.
Quality is relative here but the base is there and it can be built upon.

English

Almost all college and graduate level course work is conducted in English. India has the second largest pool of English-speaking college graduates in the world, second only to the US. Let the world know that we speak english,laugh english,walk english and talk english too (Amitabh's filmi dialogue).

Prevailing Wage

The prevailing wage in India is lower than US or developed country wages for a similar job.

British based legal system

India’s legal system, like the United States’, is based on the British model. Now we are shortly going to allow product patents too!

Quality

India is the pioneer in Information Technology and there is a place and brand called Bangalore which is beginning to look like what Silicon Valley was once upon a time.The only way is forward from here It is also the world leader in ISO and top level CMM certifications. The focus on quality has permeated the country’s business.

Ideas and direction - India gives these to the world in my opinion.Think about it.Are not Indian blogs popular.At times I do wonder how this blog is doing but then who has the time to really bother about ranking and all that nonsense.I am sure that many people do read what is written here though!

How stock markets work

Below is a joke I enjoyed a lot.

It was autumn, and the Red Indians on the remote reservation asked their

New Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a Red

Indian chief in a modern society, he couldn't tell what the weather was

Going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his

Tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members

Of the village should collect wood to be prepared.

But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He

Went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked

"Is the coming winter going to be cold?" "It looks like this winter is

Going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service Responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more

Wood. A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it

Going to be a very cold winter?" "Yes," the man at National Weather

Service again replied, "It's definitely going to be a very cold winter."

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect

Every scrap of wood they could find.

Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you

Absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?" "Absolutely,"

The Man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The Red Indians are collecting wood like Crazy."

This is how stock markets work!!!



Friday, February 18, 2005

I love Oceans-doing my bit to clean the same

Are we really bothered about our oceans or we actually want a new Tsunami?

Ocean Futures Society believes that environmental education should emphasize our need to be better stewards of natural resources and teach us how we can do a better job in living more sustainably on this planet. Addressing these critical issues requires a new approach to how we think about the future.

I am requesting all not to be indifferent and do whatever we can for the sake of our own future.It is traumatic get swept under a wall of water and see not a single soul that can help you or for that matter anybody else.Let us not put plastics into the seas,oceans and other water bodies.Use plastics wisely!

http://www.OceanFutures.org

Do more - think for yourself what more can I do for everybody else and how I can get rid of the waste in my operations.Do it and get noticed and help your own company.

Importance of Collaboration,reading and sharing

Companies and inviduals collaborating more than ever today.
Reading more than ever today.
Sharing their aspirations with the whole world more than ever today.

Today's global market requires partnerships across the supply chain,information sharing and dissemination among employees and to the public in general to get the right economic, social and environmental benefits and it is needed more than ever.

Need further proof-almost every software company and any company with a look on the future will tell yes we do it more than ever and we do have :
  1. more business
  2. literature/notes we use to make business decisions
  3. blogs-internal and external
  4. plans to collaborate with other companies/bodies and organizations
  5. more uncertainity than ever

All this is a result of all the three activities above.Today the main tasks for companies are:

  1. Minimizing risks
  2. Reducing costs
  3. Preventing misuse of available resources
  4. Investing wisely where there is a genuine potential for growth.Can be in unrelated industries too.
  5. Using IT and the Internet and devices like mobile phones, PDA's,smartphones,SMS,Wiki,blogs,Lawyers and law firms,consultants and government information wisely.
  6. All this needs to be done at the min. cost to the company.
  7. Exploring opprtunities that are created as a result of advances in research and development within the company and outside the company.
  8. Integrating all this together for a minimal cost and presenting the same to the people who need to know

Examples of companies that are doing collaboration well are plenty and one just needs to search the web.Sharing information is something companies are not doing well although many are just starting to understand the importance of sharing information-the fact is even by sharing information these companies have and are benefiting beyond their wildest dreams and no one really wants you to know as many companies are scared!

One of the best collaboration based exchanges between individuals and companies & organizations and vice-versa on the net is http://www.experts-exchange.com

The next questions that arises here is are we using this or not or is the person or company we hired doing it or not?

This is a time to be truly creative and creativity will result in disruption or improvement and both create opportunities.So grab your opportunities while they last.

A site that eliminates software errors before they happen

You should be wondering now what is this non-programmer talking about.Surely we write the best code and we seldom make mistakes-right.

Most software errors happen by chance and they happen without the code writer knowing about it and when the error does come to light - then it becomes too late and too expensive to do anything about the same!.

Now without wasting your time further I will inform that I have come across a website that eliminates coding errors before they happen (languages are C,C++ and Java right now).So without further delay check out

http://www.Klocwork.com

And try to reduce your mistakes.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

A couple of Interesting companies

I think this company has it going for them

IT companies need a powerful, easy-to-use software platform that business analysts use to quickly and effectively visually communicate with to managers,stakeholders,decision makers.

The company is fast growing and provides developers an opportunity to test drive their web applications before writing software code.

The criteria I use to evaluate companies are:
  1. Do they save time
  2. Do they save resources (including Human resources,coputer resources and internet resources)
  3. Do they do things on time (meeting set targets, are projects completed on time,..)
  4. Do they capture a market really fast
  5. Do they have the smarts to get the best people
  6. Do they know where to source stuff from at the lowest cost (without getting into a 0 sum game)
  7. Do they respond well to customers and potential customers
  8. Do they keep themselves on top of trends (IT and Non IT)
  9. Do they care for their customers and their environment
  10. Do they innovate - if yes how regualrily
The company meets many of my criteria and is interesting alright.Without wasting further time here is the name
http://www.irise.com

Of course I do not have all the answers for each and every question I have been able to raise through this blog and many people will have these questions too but hey all of us should find our answers and play our part.I do my bit by letting all know and do prod you all to do yours from time to time and yes believe in yourself - if you don't who will?

I believe I am doing the right thing and do not want to be judged - in any case I am being judged by whom I am not going to tell and yes I am on my way up only. I did get the feedback from an IIM B graduate who knows I am good and I do get visits to this website from many different people including from people who just type in my name to see if they can see what I am up to and yea some of these are people who know me from engineering college,seminars,school and not for profit bodies too so I am being judged all the time - there is no escape at all for me.

I got an invite to the ET Knowledge forum in Bangalore to listen to the founder of www.nVidia.com and I am really excited about attending the presentation.I think nVidia too has it going for the company.I am sure the company does all the things mentioned above too.

Thanks ToI and ET.Really appreciate your gesture.I will make sure some business does happen and/or gets simplified due to my presence there.It will help out my country and company.Think about it many people are indeed coming to India to get new customers and knowledge.Even developed countries are worried about the pull of Bangalore and India to a large extent.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Doing my bit for the lighting industry

The fact is present forms of lighting in many developing countries and developed countries too consume tremendous amounts of energy.The biggest culprit is the Tungsten Filament light bulb which just emits heat and gives light.NO wonder an ordinary light bulb is very hot to touch-as far as possible we all must try to reduce the electricity we spend on lighting our homes and for minimizing this expense which all of us end up paying for with our pockets we can really ask governments and industries to actively explore less energy consuming bulbs like CFL lamps or tubelights.What is new here - as some of you expect me to provide something truly relevant over here apart from the ordinary right!

Well you will not be really dissappointed although a few among you will know about it but the message is for those who do not-ask people who you know to make the difference and be thecome the change you want to see in the world and the links are below for reference:

  1. http://www.energystar.gov
  2. http://www.thevospad.com
  3. http://www.lightcongress.com

The last link is for those will spread the info about the conference and encourage the people who make a difference to participate in the conference-it is bound to light up the future and well I had read about the Vos Pad in http://Slashdot.org

Happy energy saving and lighting up the world.

My Yahoo appearance

today I checked out my yahoo appearance by typing parvez in the search bar-I was the first to appear due to my Stumble Upon reviews and when I tried Interesting websites I visit on Yahoo I was still no 1 on Yahoo too so it does mean that my views are spreading to people and are raising eyebrows alright!

All this is really inspiring me to keep on blogging more and more till I really do someting significant like save or improve a life-instill hope into the millions of bloggers who are really trying hard to prove a point or make a living or whatever but yes some people are looking up no doubt about the same!.

thats all for now !

todays links

Today I want to inform you all about a few really good links I am sure that will be really helpful-so here goes nothing:

http://www.seekingalpha.com
http://www.doc-online.org
http://www.strategiy.com

Those of you who really wonder how I manage to find so many websites and relevant information and post it here well just know this some of the best things in life come free and one must really try to help out all possible to do the right thing and that I have found really pays back in many ways more than one-the payback comes in forms of ideas that can be used almost immediately.

A life that is saved or made more comfortable and enriching gives back more to society and the people who made the same happen-all of us improve and at times may not be able to give our best and feel guilty about that and yet we should accept that it is a passing phase and snap out of it at the earliest and often I achieve the same by smiling.Try it out-pour your hearts out and wash your face with water-it helps to get you into a better mood and try out some essential oils or light up some incense sticks-these have been known to help.

So long for now and yes keep a note on this blog as I am going to keep on adding useful stuff and more websites almost daily from now on.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Fixing healthcare

I would really appreciate if developed and developing countries really take a hard look at healthcare policies.What can be done to solve the problems that exist wherever they are:

  1. Use tools like wiki (www.twiki.org) and Stumble Upon and start rating the service.
  2. Promote the sharing of information among colleagues
  3. Spend the barest minimum time on granting of patents and settling disputes.Any good lawyer will help with the same.
  4. Verify the online/work history of people using websites like www.abika.com
  5. Examine other systems of medicine too wherever possible.Search the web.
  6. Minimize/Balance the consumption of foods/drinks that do little good and more harm to the body.
  7. Set up alerts which are releant to the disease to know the latest info on treatment.Google,Ferret (Australia), www.Topix.net all give alerts.
  8. Follow these trends on www.technorati.com, http://slashdot.org, http://mirrordot.org
  9. Select keywords carefully.
  10. Give priority to saving life and help in building a healthy lifestyle.
  11. Learn from previous mistakes and share the learning.
  12. Promote healthy exercise.
  13. Do not look upon patients as a source of revenue.They are genuinely troubled people and expenses really add up.Medics too do not have all the answers so do your homework beforehand.
  14. Minimize the waste of power,water and time.

Work on your pet projects whenever you can - it will give satisfaction and bring a smile.A smile cheers up the world around you and spreads a positive message.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Rent.com

This website too caught my attention!

www.rent.com

Apparently it will help many readers of my blog do something about their housing needs and act.There is no end to saying what you will find using Google Suggest!

For the link go to Google.

Global Village News and Resources

www.gvnr.com

The link is above-do visit this awesome resource and see what more you should do and go ahead.Believe in the best resource you have-yourself and stop often to reflect and when sure only move forward and in many cases just go ahead against all odds if you believe it is the truth and all you know will benefit from the initiative-getting a single person to trust is the most difficult and once that hurdle is crossed the next step is always easier.

It only takes one to start a revolution-be the change you want to see!

Big Daddy is watching!

Cybersitter 9.0
http://www.cybersitter.com

Net Nanny 5.1 http://www.netnanny.com

and CyberPatrol http://www.cyberpatrol.com

and all three offer free trials.

http://www.spectorsoft.com gives more expensive alternatives that specialize in monitoring and recording every detail of PC and Internet activity

Above are websites that monitor what children do on the internet-I am posting these here as every responsible person needs to promote a safe and trusted internet.The only caution I want to give here is trust your child and the best person to know if a child is lying or not is by giving a stern look that probes into the child's thoughts and guilt is easily exposed.A real danger is spyware and Ad-ware and one has to remove these from the PC which is hooked on to the net.A popular package to remove Adware is available from www.Lavasoft.com

Please be careful and the surest way to really grab the attention of people is being enthusiastic and involving the youngsters and educating these impressionable minds about what is really good for their own future.

It also means we ought to really discipline ourselves too.



Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Reasons why the net will explode and accelarate growth in companies and for people

There are many reasons as to why this will actually happen and it will happen sooner than we think.The question is are we even asking the right questions - the kind that help us grow and help our companies grow ?

Looking at reasons why this is going to happen

  1. Reach - this has increased phenomenally with even schoolchildren and grand parents using the net to communicate.There are more users today than yesterday and this number is increasing even as I type.
  2. Broadband/Cable Internet - Almost all people who have a PC/phone/cable modem are on the net and the connections today are more reliable.Imagine what will happen when live help will be available on websites and trusted advisors will give decisions to ordinary people who invest and understand technology in real time.Even the traditional law and CA firms have got Cable internet or DSL or Wireless and are becoming heavy users of software and services.
  3. Cost of service- this is reducing everyday and I can use tools that are available online to help me make my decision.Today models using physics are being used to predict sales of goods for companies.Google Alerts are free,RSS feed updates in realtime and most content in any case is free or cheap to to buy for most users.
  4. Storage and servers - the costs just keep falling
  5. Open Source - these people keep on innovating and launching cheaper and better services and cheaper and better hardware.Eg: MySQL,PostgreSQL, www.Nutch.org,
  6. The Sub $ 100 PC - many people are working to make this dream machine.Negroponte,Rajesh Jain and almost all PC assemblers (the grey market people) can give you something for less than $ 100.
  7. Children - yeah kids of today are getting to use computers and are using their knowledge to teach adults and are among smartest sharers of tools,songs,movies and messages over the net.It will not be long before they get the purchasing power too!
  8. Teachers and Grandparents - They are really encouraging more and more people to learn and do the right thing-this is actually happening - the other thing is they want to inrease their knowledge by surfing and sharing and students and children are returning the favor. The reverse mentoring experiment worked for GE and other similar companies.
  9. Wikipedia - Yes wikipedia is growing bigger and faster every second.
  10. Cash - Even ordinary people are becoming microentrepreneurs thanks to Yahoo Small Biz, Auctions,Stores and eBay - this gift continues to give and give and give.Searching for buyers has certainly become easier today.
  11. Wireless and mobile - A user need not be stuck at one place with a computer and laptop prices are falling and the number of mobile hones is increasing everyday.Companies like IBM are allowing workers to do work from home too!
  12. TV and 3 D - we will see the internet on TV too and in 3 D too companies are trying out truly innovative stuff and it amazes me to even think of the possibilities.I am impressed by companies working on software and display technology.Want to learn more just search the web - keywords can be TV over IP,Free Space Displays etc.
  13. Search,blogs,chat,streaming,videoconferencing and IM - these applications are getting better all the time.I get great results from www.accoona.com, can discuss the applications on my blog which can be made wikienabled, and have a realtime discussion using a Blackberry,chat with my IT helpdesk using IM,videoconference and chat with my bosses and colleagues and guess what prices are falling everyday!
  14. Tradeshows - their number too is increasing all over the world and wonders of wonders many companies are coming to developing countries too as growth is happening and want proof see the tradeshow advertisements on the web itself.
  15. Transactions and collaborations - These are happening everyday,Froogle,comparison shopping,the Boeing dreamliner,B2B exchanges and B2C transactions are all growing only.Even the Indian Railways is really modernizing and making the best use of e-commerce.
  16. Evangelists and Alumnii - They are giving back to society in many ways more than one.They are there in tech companies,are on the boards of many responsible companies,in government and even films are being made on these individuals (eg Swades - a Hindia film with Shah Rukh Khan - a popular actor from India)

This the end of my post for the day.

Tax

A really interesting question to ask your CA or finance executive will be how do I minimize the tax burden on my company and where do I make investments that will give a tax holidays in that region and your sharebroker too must be able to answer which companies are getting benefits by investing in these tax-free zones meant for growing the business or export promotions.

A way will be is try to move your taxes online to the extent possible.

3 interesting websites and an appeal

I am truly finding out how to actually use these websites below better and tips on using these will be truly helpful and is there a surfer in Bangalore who can help me set up a live auction on Baazee.com an Indian auction site.I have put this request on Ryze where I am a member but so far I have not got a single response!

http://gre.gario.us

www.technorati.com

www.rojo.com

I searched for tech startups in technorati and guess what-the first page had this blog on it-I am really happy that my contributions have reached the first 10 results of technorati-getting this webpage better noticed on google should not be that difficult I hope and come to think of it - I do stumble across some great articles and am writing the stuff that becomes the difference to companies bottomlines here!

I hope I come across someone who will help out with this auction business-I do have an idea about how to use auctions to really make a great company and would love discussing the same with this peron and do not mind sharing the idea and the only thing is I need to know the fundamentals on how to proceed and actually do my auction first.That will help me out a lot.

Looking forward to a live practical and helpful response and I hope I reach the right people.Do email me
and my email is ahmedparvez@yahoo.com

Would love to hear from you all my blog readers & no criticisms please.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

My Google appearance

I did a simple a simple Google search today.

Was pleasanty surprised to find my Stumble Upon reviews are pretty popular among many websurfers and many are using the Stumble Upon reviews to make informed judgements on how to go forward and what to do next.

I think SU is a great way to generate more business,build more applications,sell stuff online and build a social network.Growing the social network will happen when we really are able to spread the right messages,articles and links we are genuinely interested in and in a way it reflects your interests-enables spotting opportunity at the earliest and really benefitting from the same.

Today I stumbled on an interesting blog that covers startups and give a brief idea of the business they do.
the link is http://techstartups.blogspot.com

And yes my SU reviews turn up on Google in Page no 3 after seeing the first 25 results!not bad for a guy who is least interested in writing a blog full time.

Keep track of my SU page too if you want to see what I am reading and how I am trying to change the life of people.I believe that life itself is precious and if there is life only there can be a next step and I want all my blog readers to live life to the fullest help as many people as possible and be positive,energetic full of life and really enthusiastic.A smile works wonders and keeps the foul moods away and also brings cheer to many people around.

So happy googling to you my friends and yes spread the information about what I read to people who make a difference - it is in your interest only.You or your loved ones will benefit sooner than expected.


Saturday, February 05, 2005

Facts on energy consumption and lessons to be learnt

1)Appliances that are switched off but still plugged in account for 5% energy consumption and cost consumers billions annually.
Lesson to be learnt by all users - Unplug all electrical and electronic devices when not in use!

2)The sun sheds enough energy on Earth in one minute to meet its energy needs for an entire year
Lesson here is use solar energy more-the result will be lesser prices of petrol for many developing countries!

3)Installing a white roof on a house can reduce the energy needed to cool it by 20%,
Lesson-white is light on your pockets house owners and think about light colors for interiors too

4)If all citizens of the world used better and more efficient refrigerators, we would need at least 300 fewer power plants.
Lesson yet to be learnt - minimize the usage of inefficient gadgets.Stop making excuses!

5)States that lost manufacturing jobs in spite of having the technical capability to retain and capture the best jobs lost out to China and India-need proof,outsourcing is growing and even China and India are thinking of cooperating better and I do not think outsourced jobs will return soon!.
Need more proof-see the no. of trade fairs going on India and China and who are buying out companies and from whom too!
Lessons yet to be learnt here-do not be lazy and/or inefficient and use the best practices for manufacturing.

http://www.bmpcoe.org is the relevant website for manufacturing best practices.


More on why I blog

This is very obvious and well it boils down to simple economics. I want to do more business,export and sell more products that my company manufactures and exports and make it a more responsive company.

The transition from a legacy company to a modern and efficient company will happen and that too gracefully,customer satisfaction will grow, profits will grow and become more predictable and, ultimately, the industry will grow even online as there is real real demand offline and customers actually buy and consume our products.

I sell and share information with people-I do it because I know that people are looking for the information I have found that only I can share this information with them and though others also can do it they may be doing it or not but I am doing it and many people already know and understand that the information here is

  1. accurate to the best of my knowledge
  2. easy to understand and use too and mostly free of technical,legalese,economic or math jargon.
  3. info found here is not found in many other blogs or websites.
  4. info is posted here on many,many topics from the ordinary to the best cutting edge stuff.
  5. helping people save time,money and resources and helps them grow with the minimal expenditure.
  6. enabling people create new trends and follow trends existing in other parts of the world.
  7. some topics here have found mention in sites that are trusted completely by users and have proved to be vital in saving costs to companies and some influentials too have seen this website is something I am sure off as I have heard from these people offline.
  8. Relevant links are provided and most of these links work-there may be a few links that have crept in and may not work but in general they do work!
  9. Quite a bit of the information here is the common and yet very little used general knowledge and people relate to it very easily.
  10. info found here will not create hype

The link for today is http://bettersearch.g-blog.net/

Have fun and accelarate firefox users!


Friday, February 04, 2005

Technology for the bottomline

A black bottomline depends on how the company/body answers and frames the questions and how soon can it be executed with barest minimum expenses or in a few cases slightly more than the least expenses where there is true value to be had from better bells and whistles from the existing infrastructure.

Any expense invested in IT/internet should create a positive return to the company. Additionally, management needs to take an asset and portfolio management view of IT/internet activities. New projects create new IT assets; existing IT activities-or assets-need to be managed for maximum benefit to the company. Both classes of assets need to be managed for value and risk as portfolios, not as individual assets.What needs to be mentioned here is that the learning should not be lost and one should see how one can grow the builtup knowledge base.

Cost: The actual cost to deliver the application to the business, including computing, networks, and support.
Alignment: How well the application is aligned to the company's strategic intentions.
Dependency: How much the firm depends on the application.
Breadth: How widely the application is used throughout the business.
Quality: How functional is the application?
Service level: How well does the application perform for the business user, in terms of accuracy and functionality?
Technical risk: The risks to the business of increased costs and application failure due to technical factors.
Innovation and Speed:These 2 activities will make the difference between the success and failure of the venture.Who/what helps you finds the balance is also really important and should be rewarded-if not the balance changes - as if the person or the best practice is neglected which happens many times the contribution is just not the same anymore and there will be a loss of best results.

Ask IT people and consultants the truly hard questions, such as:
How do we justify new IT/Tech investments?
Are we balancing our resources between requests for new investment and existing IT activities?
How do we measure and report the business return on IT investments?
What further should I know about using IT/internet and why has it not been told to me and the entire set of decision makers so far if it is going to be beneficial?

The 2 activities relating to the usage of IT and the internet which will actually make or mar a project(s) are today in my opinion blogs and wiki and their usage or lack of it!

To contribute to profit, IT/internet related activities needs to be managed and spurred on and these are a set of assets and asset portfolios, which are already providing business impact and ROI-how and whether you know it or not are the questions to be asked and a lack of it has shut many ventures worldwide-for examples of botched projects and business search the web!

I really am liking two of the very best blogging services and I think these are really doing well because people are making decisions and money based on inputs from such services-the question being asked is are you making it?

Check out the blogs found here and ask yourself the right questions-I search the services for specific keywords like technology,startups,Venture Capital,Stocks and best practices etc..

Are you even thinking in these lines?

http://blo.gs
http://www.technorati.com


Thursday, February 03, 2005

Living in an energy efficient home

It is indeed possible to live in an energy efficient home with the least expenditure.
This is possible by really taking a good look on how much energy do you actually need and from where you are going to get it and who is going to help you out in order to make it happen.

http://www.toolbase.org/secondaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=16

Well now you know where to go and whom to ask-so do it on the double!

Networking for results

This post will open your eyes to the power of networking and keeping in touch with friends,alumni and strangers too.Networking happens only when you open up to an individual or to many individuals and they respond to the chenge created by you.It is always a 2 way street and no man (human) is an island and everything is connected or going to be connected.Below is my take on networking and what is below are my suggestions.

Don't apologize. As long as you are polite and flexible, you are not inconveniencing anyone by asking for a networking interview. All successful people have been helped along the way by someone else and are happy to return the favor and if they are not then you know what type of people they are!

Don't take rejection personally. If someone turns down a request for a meeting, remember that it most likely has nothing to do with you. For all you know, you may have caught someone in the middle of a tight deadline or a family emergency. Assume good intentions on the other person's part and move on to the next target. Or, if you sense that the person is eager to help but simply unable to do so right away, you can offer to call back in a month and see if his or her schedule has opened up by then.For all you know there is a more deserving person than you!.

Be creative. You never know who might make a good contact. Anyone you read about in your alumni magazine, your local newspaper, The Economic Times,NY Times,New Yorker,FT, or anywhere else is fair game.Businesses and world class people are there everywhere. You can even scour the Web site of an organization that interests you and approach someone you've identified from the staff.What will you actually do to bring novelty and just how is the company/body going to benefit from you?

Do your homework. The more you can learn ahead of time, the more focused your meeting will be, and the richer the information you will take away from it. You will also impress your interviewer enough that he or she may be motivated to take a more-than-perfunctory interest in your career path. And always know why you are going to meet the person.Time is precious even to you and be bothered about your time-not the other person's.

Focus ... but not too narrowly. You need to go into a networking interview with a clear sense of the directions you would like to explore and the ways in which a given contact might help. At the same time, your contact may know of opportunities that would never have occurred to you, and you should be open to those suggestions.

Keep records. Be sure to write down and file away contact information and related notes after every meeting. Even if a meeting doesn't seem immediately useful, you never how the information might come in handy down the road.

Be patient. Most contacts are more comfortable granting interviews when they know that you don't expect them to find you a job.Patience is a virtue-learn it and value the same.

Learn. to find information that is relevant to the company you are targeting or the sector you want to get into and tell the world how to use the same and make it idiot proof.Any fool should be able to follow up from where you have left.Learning to unlearn what you already know too is vital today.For all you know you might learnt the wrong things!After all ignorance is bliss right!

Give credit where it is due and remember people can call bluffs very easily.Acknowledging a source of information help you build a reputation based on honesty-which leads to you being trusted.

Contribute.Even if you think that you have little to offer, you may well have information and ideas that can benefit the person you'd like to meet. Let that thought give you confidence as you set out to build your new career and remember little drops of water build an ocean so do not think it is wasting time.

Innovation does not happen just like that-people need to come up with ideas and there are bound to be mistakes along the way and there will be a lot to learn and unlearn-do it and get damned or do not do it and still get damned!
I prefer the former to the latter as I learn something new all the time-do you?Networking well will get results sooner rather than later.A blog is a tool to build the ultimate network-only the message needs to get out!

The best information on creativity is found in www.creax.com and it has an office in Bangalore too!.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

How to be successful for individuals and companies-stats and random thoughts

  1. Keep yourself upto date on what is happening in your industry
  2. Why is it happening and what are the implications of the change
  3. Explore what can be done faster,cheaper and better.
  4. Keep on top of technology and more importantly know how to use the same.One must know the basics and how to build on them-this means do not skip daily reading of http://slashdot.org
  5. Know the trends,who makes them happen and which are the best companies and how they manage the distribution of information to their employees and customers both.A great company does all that and more and ABB,Intel,HP, 3i,Toyota, and McGraw-Hill are some of the companies I really admire.Find a couple of great lists of the best companies at www.fast50.com and www.global100.org
  6. Use time very sagaciously-this also means not wasting your colleague's time.Remember your colleagues work real smart and you should be able to learn from the ones that matter.Getting things done to your satisfaction is truly important.Any bloody fool should be able to pick the threads from where you left.
  7. Motivate yourself your colleagues and the people around you-and the best way I know to begin the day is with a prayer and a smile-prayer gives the confidence and a smile spreads the warmth.
  8. A company always needs feedback on its health.
  9. Have fun and keep good company around you and show sincere appreciation to people who help.The bonus is that these people will help you again and again.

Keep your head on your shoulders and before becoming the mean successful industrialists think about the lesser fortunate people.Find below some statistics to remove you from the comfort zone.

More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. Another 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyond income poverty. It means having to walk more than one mile everyday simply to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were eradicated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children die—most under the age of five and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.

In some deeply impoverished nations less than half of the children are in primary school and under 20 percent go to secondary school. Around the world, a total of 114 million children do not get even a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate.

Following are basic facts outlining the roots and manifestations of the poverty affecting more than one third of our world.

Health
■ Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
■ More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.
■ Everyday HIV/AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 people are infected with this deadly virus.
■ Every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria—more than one million child deaths a year.
■ Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria. Approximately three
million people die as a result.
■ TB is the leading AIDS-related killer and in some parts of Africa, 75 percent of people with HIV
also have TB.

Hunger

■ More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day…300 million are children.
■ Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations.
More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.
■ Every 3.6 seconds another person dies of starvation and the large majority are children under the age of 5.

Water

■ More than 2.6 billion people—over 40 per cent of the world’s population—do not have basic sanitation,
and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water.
■ Four out of every ten people in the world don’t have access even to a simple latrine.
■ Five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne diseases.

Now think again as to how you can make a difference to even a single person among these and actually do it.It will give you the best satisfaction.-that is real stepping stone to success.Only when you become satisfied will you think of doing something for everyone including yourself..I am helping out by creating more awareness and actually helping out in the best way I can by giving cash and/or goods privately whenever I can and am happy I could do it and yes I pray too for these people who are less fortunate than me.It gives me satisfaction.

A note about the sources I use to find the websites in this blog-I see so many websites and read a lot of articles and inbetween the lines and form my own conclusions based on what I read and write and naming every source is an impossible task!.So just trust me and if you do not believe me Search-you will be better off doiing it.

Patenting well-India and other developing countries need not follow US and UK blindly,we are all seeing Iraq and I will submit that patents in India and developed countries will hurt the poor people most as many drugs will go beyond reach for many.The cheap drugs that are exprted to developing countries too are going to be hit and we all know who will benefit truly!
The rich seem to get richer all the time.A website I know of that is making a difference to both for profit and Non profit ventures is www.omidyar.net

Enough of Gyaan imparted for the day.