Lost count after 30…..

Yesterday I turned …oops lost count….

Though I hate the concept of “birthday,” the day was enjoyable – got up early, went to temple with my wife and son (it does not hurt to have god on your side…), went out shopping with my wife, and had a small family dinner in the evening. I also came to terms with the fact that it is alright to be on the (very) wrong side of thirties – age is just another statistic anyways (sour grapes?...nah!)

Now when I look back at the last one year, 2009 was a mixed bag for me. I re-started my career after a one year sabbatical, re-settled in Gurgaon, connected with some old friends, really loved seeing my son do his “firsts” (first crawl, first step, first word, first gesture…), invested in some assets, sorted out some long pending issues. I however failed to move forward on one goal that I had set for myself on my last birthday – that of beginning to pen my first novel. Though I do have the plot in mind, I guess I could not find enough “literary momentum” to pen my plot.

I however am determined to get cracking on that in January 2010…

As I close possibly my last blog entry this year, let me take a moment to wish all the citizens of blogosphere a rocking 2010. I hope the year brings peace and happiness all over…

Holy cow, we have only 3 more years to live…

….well if you were to believe the twisted logic of some historians around the theory that since Mayan calendar is till 21 December 2012, that is when the world comes to an end. While some part of me may be anxious around the suggested doomsday, at this point I feel it is just a group of conspiracy theorists trying to get cheap publicity and some cult groups trying to increase their follower base. The movie 2012’s director certainly is laughing his way to the bank, and if nothing else, he is sure to have wealthy next three years!

Yesterday, as I saw on TV for the zillionth time one of these “twisted-logic” theorists talk about doomsday prediction, for a few minutes I started to think about what I would do if really had only three years to live and if I knew (for sure) that the world would indeed end on Dec 21, 2012. Here are some of the to-dos that came to my mind….

- Stop repaying the loan EMIs!… and let the bank start off a legal battle to get possession of the property. I am sure, by the time the court comes to some conclusion three years would have passed by and I would have an extra X,00,000 rupees at my disposal in the interim.

- Plan out a world tour (may be putting the money saved above to good use!)…. If the world were to come to an end, this may me be my last chance to go to all the beautiful places I fancy. My itinerary would surely include Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, and Western Europe.

- Buy a good fancy top-of-the line car such as a Porsche, Ferrari, etc…. This may be a good time to buy my dream vehicle; needless to say, on a 15 year EMI plan!

- Stop exercising (not that I do a lot now!) completely…. Why worry about your body when there is not much time to live anyways!

- Start writing my dream book immediately….eureka!! I now have a hot selling plot around what a guy-next-door may do if he knew that he has a finite time to live! Though I now know for sure I have found a plot that is sure to work with fear-psychotic public, I may not have enough time to collect all the royalty from book sales

…. The above few thoughts (any many more) whizzed past my mind in a few seconds before I realized that most of this may be just hype. The skeptics believe (and I agree to that view) that the Mayans Long Count calendar ends in 2012 since their calendar follows long set of periods unlike every year. Some skeptics also believe their culture vanished before they could get out another long count calendar.

Despite my skepticism around the 2012 theory, I must admit that I have seen no prophecy gain as much hype before. While the rational-me believes that 21 Dec 2012 will go by like any other day, I cannot help wondering what if I am wrong…

First Manager is like First Love!!

Last week, quite unexpectedly I got a chance to connect with my first manager with whom I started my career over a decade ago! Though we had not been in touch for several years, the mere mention of his name - AC - sucked me back in time into my formative years and the wonderful few years I spent being mentored by him.

An amazingly brilliant professional, a wonderful people manager with an always-smiling persona (and an infectious roar-of-a-laughter!), and great coach and mentor, AC was a pleasure to work with. Now when I look back I realize that he was the reason I stayed so long (a couple of years) in a finance career though it clearly wasn’t suited to me. I enjoyed working with him so much that I did not focus on the fact that project financing was clearly not my true professional calling. But it is a blessing that I worked with him during my formative years because he taught me (often in his own subtle ways) several things that helped me have a (relatively) decent career run long after I left the organization.

As I started to work with him straight out of school, despite my inexperience (and a multi-level difference in hierarchy; which is very important in a PSU), AC often treated me like a peer and gave me large amounts of responsibility. He coached me in a natural way, letting me observe him while he worked (as he dealt astutely with the department head, negotiated project deliverables with clients, and worked his way through the infamous PSU politics) which meant that most days I was sitting in his office discussing topics as varied as project structuring to upward-management to sports to politics to life!

While he would push me to experiment and innovate on projects I worked on, he always had a safety net around me. In fact I remember a couple of times when he “batted” for me and stood by my side, defending work that I had done. And, more than anything else, he taught me the meaning of “officialdom” - ways and means to survive in a professional office environment; something so valuable for a young recruit starting his career.

AC showed me the importance of staying ahead of technology. Though he was a good decade (or more) elder to me at that point, he was the one who encouraged me to learn about this thing called the World Wide Web back in a time when there was nothing much to do on the Web. I distinctly remember he pushed me to create an email account long before we had anyone we could send an e-mail to. He also taught me to blend work with life as he always pushed me to get out of the office on time, to not work on the weekends, and to structure the work flow such that I did not need to work late hours.

When I decided it was time to move on, it was not easy for me though I was clear I wanted to get out of project financing and the “PSU environment.” I was sort of scared to change my function, move into a start-up environment (from a PSU), and out of the safety net that AC had always provided. AC however encouraged me to take that leap of faith – and I am glad he did!

Now when I am in a position where I am expected to coach and mentor young folks starting their careers, I realize the enormous task and implicit responsibility that the first manager has in making or breaking the career, and more importantly the self confidence, of his/her direct reports. Each time I see my direct reports moving ahead and doing well in their careers, somewhere deep inside I thank AC for the skills he gave me early on in my professional life.

I guess the first manager is like “first love” – you never end up staying with either for a long time, yet you can never get it (or him/her) out of your mind!!

Krishnav's "firsts" make me feel so blessed!

Yesterday Krishnav stood by himself for 5 seconds. It was such a great moment for me and my wife when we saw him suddenly get up from his four-legged crawl to swing from one side to the other as he struggled to maintain his balance. He also waved for the first time yesterday evening in response to the zillionth “bye.” We are eagerly now waiting for his first coherent words and his first baby steps…

Though we struggle coping with Krishnav’s eat-play-sleep-eat… pattern, little things like the above just make all the effort so worthwhile.

Thank you god for letting us experience parenthood, and blessing us with a little angel…

Of life just before taking off…

No, this is not a philosophical blabber about how to take off on a stellar career path. One, I am yet to experience it myself; and two, I believe it is a topic best left to Jack Welch’s and Robin Sharma’s of this world.

This blog entry is about my experience at the domestic airports in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, since I have been travelling around over the past three weeks. I am not a compulsive reader so I like to observe and absorb surroundings around me when I am sitting idle, or cogitating about something, or just am too tired to do anything else – which is of often the case just before my flight back home, late in the evenings, after a day full of meetings.

In terms of airport terminal quality, I must say that nothing beats Delhi’s “1D Terminal.” It has several coffee shops, a cool new bookstand, and plenty of seating capacity; it easily compares with any airport terminal abroad. Though Mumbai terminal has fewer vendors and coffee shops, it is huge, with plenty of comfortable seating. Kolkata terminal is a traveller’s nightmare – not enough seating, often no air-conditioning, one single vendor selling stale sandwiches, and queues all over (even in the washrooms!).

I especially enjoy those few minutes between security checks and boarding the aircraft. I routinely witness three distinct categories of people in those often crammed up waiting areas (if you do not know what “crammed-up” means you need to see the scenario at the Kolkata airport, where there are a zillion people fighting for those 50 odd seats in the waiting area):

- corporate executives (just like myself) who are tired after a day full of meetings; and eager to get back home. This “species” often spends their time at the airport either checking e-mails, catching up with the pending work, making a list of To-Dos from the meetings just concluded, or “pretending” to read a book or something else. These folks are easy to identify – dark color suits with ties often hanging loose around their neck, and a laptop bag in their hand. They are often seen working at the airports or struggling to find power points to charge their laptops so that they can work on the plane journey back home. They work through their plane journey or catch up on sleep and often have a cab driver waiting at the reception area with their name plate in hand.

- businessmen back from a full day of commercial dealings. Not often dressed up in formals (like the executives), this species is often found talking loudly on their cellphones, and more often “pulling up” their staff back home or talking to their spouses instructing the exact time when the pick-up car should be despatched for the airport. These folks are often the last ones to switch-off their cellphones while seated in the planes – and the last call invariably is to someone back home (or in their office) letting them know the exact take-off time (very annoying for co-passengers!). These are strangely also the folks who will invariably get out of their seats before the plane halts at the home airport, and will immediately switch on their cellphones and ensure that their car is waiting for them outside!

- families travelling after a long trip to another city and fully prepared for the journey (as if it were a multi-week adventure trip to Siberia!), often carrying several handbags with all kinds of stuff. They (mostly kids) will invariably buy stuff to eat from the “crappy” eateries in the waiting area; will have a zillion bags to check-in; and are most eager to board. I often see them waiting for their luggage as I walk out of the airport at the destination terminals.

I find it fairly interesting (and entertaining) to just look around and observe people while waiting to security-check-in or board the plane; much recommended over reading a best seller!

I relived my past…

Some looked just the same, while the others were hard to identify. Some had receding hairline (to say the least!), while the others had streaks of grey. Some had expanded around the waist, while the others had pulled in a bit. The young girls (as we knew them) were more like mid aged (yet charming) ladies. But we all relived our school days just for a few hours.

The Springdales (Dhaula Kuan) batch of 1990 met a few days ago, and what a blast that was. The evening started with pleasantries as if we were meeting strangers – and I thought it was going to be one long evening! But soon, a few (actually much more than a few!) drinks down, folks were just like school kids – pulling each others’ legs, using more than a generous dose of the four-letter-word in conversations, bitching about folks who could not make it to the meet, talking about "ex-flames," etc. It seemed as if 19 years between our school graduation and that evening had vanished in high (and rather heavy doses of) spirits! There were doctors, salesmen, bankers, business men, exporters, consultants in the group; but for those few hours it seemed we were a bunch of heady high school kids.

And then after early excitement, the conversation turned to more mundane topics such as who was doing what, and how had life treated individuals in the interim. Thank god, however, no body pulled out their visiting cards; otherwise it would have just turned into celebration-of-professional-success for some, and a feeling that they had lost-out-in-professional-life for the others.

As folks got high on nostalgia and “spirits,” and as guys ran out of conversation topics, the mood turned to singing and music. We shouted slogans of our school groups (“houses”), cheered as some even sang our school songs, and posed for pics as cameras flashed all over.

Post dinner and after a zillion phone calls from spouses, some (like me) left the party (at 12:00 AM), while (I heard) some others stayed for a few hours more, downed more drinks, and eventually had to be assisted to their cars and even dropped home.

We all promised to meet each other regularly, and keep in touch. A few weeks later, I at least see a lot of e-mails floating around the group. The next meet (with family) is already on the cards.

Cheers to Apul, Sumit, and Gautam, who took the initiative to set that evening up. Thanks folks, you made me relive my past for those few hours…

Four months down; not much progress on my resolution...

I am writing in today to confess that I am not doing enough to move forward with my book idea! Am putting this down in my blog so that even if no one eye-balls it, there is some incremental pressure to deliver on my resolution.

To be true, I have been thinking of possible plots, but have not come across anything that makes me jump out of my chair, or motivates me enough to hit my laptop’s keyboard, or keeps me up at night. Maybe, I have not given myself enough time over the past 2 months to really “taste and chew” the various half-baked story ideas in my mind. The only thing positive is that what started as a vague maybe-someday kind of dream is turning into a have-to-do-soon kind of passion!

Don’t know where to start and how to build on the wire-frames of various thoughts I have in my mind. One vague idea is to just “speed-write” for an hour a day various thoughts that are in my head, and possibly collate all of that after a few weeks to see if there is a pattern emerging or if there is some area worth digging deeper into. The other idea is to read some contemporary works by Indian authors to get inspired enough to take a leap of faith in one of the several directions my mind wants me to pursue.

I am really hopeful I will sort this out soon, but would love to get some advice from fellow bloggers...

Is “polishing the blemishes” a key to survival in this difficult corporate environment – a thought…

I am writing in after what seems like ages!!

I am back to the corporate world, though the transition was not easy; I guess I had got used to the 24x7 “idyllic” lifestyle at the IIM campus. Strangely, have been very busy ever since I stepped into the corporate world – getting used to a relatively new environment, new profile, very different “waking hours,” and dealing with the more mundane things in life. But net net, it is great to be back in a world where some money flows into your bank at the end of the month!

A few days ago an ex-PGPX peer reminded me of a phrase that one of the marketing gurus at IIM used a couple of times during his sessions:

"When you paint wood, you're trying to hide blemishes. When you polish wood, you're trying to show blemishes as quality."

I laughed it off then taking it to be one of the professor’s ways of exhibiting his deep philosophical insight into the world of marketing. Now however when I think of it, there is a much deeper meaning to it. Especially in the corporate world where everyone seems to be trying to “paint” their own personality and skill set to map with what the company demands of them, this phrase seems so true.

I ask: isn’t there merit in diversity, being different (and being proud of the difference), having the will and the courage to polish your “blemishes?”

I strongly feel there is. During this economic downturn when the mantra to succeed in the corporate world is to think-out-of-the-box, being mere “clones” and hiding our blemishes is not going to take us too far. “Polishing” our blemishes into key differentiators in personality or skill is what one need to move forward.

Let me stop here before I get into the philosophical gyan mode. But the message is certainly worth a thought I would say.

Goodbye Ahmedabad….hello again Gurgaon

This is probably my last blog entry from the IIM Ahmedabad campus, as I start off on a 900+ km drive tomorrow morning to my hometown and my old job. As I say goodbye to the eclectic PGPX class of 09', this beautiful campus, and my very warm apartment, the last 12 months just whiz past my eyes. Here are some moments that will always stay with me…

The D-Company is born…

Cohesive D-Group family...

Unending lectures…

Chit-chat chai time…

Block 11 MSH…

T-Nite chaos…

Krishnav arrives…

Short trip to Amsterdam…

Chillaxing with Krishnav…

Holi time at IIM…

Much treasured morning walks...
Goodbye PGPX, IIM-A

And a new one begins after a few blank pages…

Now that the PGPX course at IIM is over, I am finding myself blogging more often. And boy am I glad!

These last few days are like blank pages between two chapters (close to the climax) of a best-seller. As the reader flips these pages, while he is still thinking through the gripping closing paragraph in the last chapter, there is anticipation about the direction the story may take in the subsequent chapter.

Next few days at the campus will be uneventful yet very hectic. On one hand life is dull on campus as people are wrapping up their course deliverables and busy finalizing their jobs, on the other hand there is a lot of action as people make arrangements to move to new locations; movers and packers are having a field day on campus.

I am trying to tie all the loose ends as I plan my move back to Gurgaon. Well I am excited to go back, but the one thing that I am not looking forward to is the 900+ km drive back home. Though the road is great and I really enjoyed driving to Ahmedabad, the same drive seems like a drag now; I guess sadness of leaving this super-cool campus (and friends) coupled with anxiety about future uncertainty is weighing heavy on me.

Anyways, I am sure the future has a lot of exciting surprises in store for each of us. The economic downturn presents a wonderful opportunity for each one of the PGPX’s 77 aces to test their managerial astuteness in solving some real-world business problems.

Yet another chapter ends…

Just submitted my last pending assignment (individual Capstone exercise), and phew… I am done with the PGPX coursework! So, no more night-outs, report writing, case reading, and quiz prep.

I had been waiting for this moment for several weeks, but now that I am done with all the course work, I am not feeling too good about it! In fact it saddens me to think that after a few days I will bid goodbye to IIM-A, and (re)enter the big, bad, hectic rat race of the corporate world.

Though I am certainly happy to say goodbye to the PGPX class room (CR-11) and endless lectures, I will surely carry fond memories of the “D-Company corner” (as it got to be known) near the stairs where out group converged for endless conversations in between the classes (see pic), and our group syndicate room (Synd. 6) which almost became a second home for all in group D.

IIM-A journey will be memorable. Had some great fun moments, found some wonderful friends, cracked some crazy business problems, and kept pace (at least tried to) with the famous IIM-A rigor comprising endless stream of quizzes, presentations, reports, assignments, end-terms (and other "torture weapons").

Starting tomorrow the focus will be on relocation planning, packing, wrapping up administrative requirements, etc.

Next Piece of Bread...

Men in black and women all natty
Put-on smiles and appearing to be chatty
Rushing to meet recruiters with a sense of dread
Confident, yet worried about the next piece of bread

Shades of grey, yet bundle of nerves
Years of toil, yet still negotiating life’s curves
Running in a race to enter the management hall-of-fame
Wanting to hang their boots, but still playing the game

The “buyers” are pickier than ever before
Rejecting “ware” at the slightest “nick” in the core
The economy going south is aiding the “evil”
Cause or result, no doubt it is causing upheaval

Sitting on the sidelines I witness and wonder
Is this hassle worth letting your life get torn asunder?
With creditors knocking doors, ready to flog the “almost dead”
In life’s pecking order nothing precedes the next piece of bread!

By Sunil Puri
(Inspired by the current employment scenario in India; wherein all – even the smartest and the most experienced – are desperately searching for good opportunities)

Waltz in the class…

Lights-ppt deck-action I see often in my class
Audience are bored and presenters are crass
Whether finance or marketing, the performance looks the same
“Waltz in the class” is what I call this game

The judges ever so often do not care about content
Body language and “style” define intellectual dent
“Time cop” is the only person often glued to the “dance”
So that the next guy is not too late to take his stance

Grades are sadly the only performance driver
Audience are indifferent, heaps of print the only survivor
The dancer often does not connect with the class
Not that the audience minds giving him a pass

The dance often ends with a loud applause
Rarely in appreciation, often sadly without a cause
Clapping no doubt does create a feel-good sound
The energy dissipates, yet participants remain bound

Is this what education is all about, I ask?
Dancing to the slide-deck, wearing a knowledge mask
Sadly I guess we need to play along till the system halts
Flick our limbs, and get ready for our turn to waltz!

By Sunil Puri
(Inspired by a session on project presentations in the class)

What would Love Do?

As I re-enter the corporate jungle with misplaced notions
Where responsibilities and deadlines brutally overrun emotions
In the race-to-finish first in completing never-ending stream of tasks
What would Love do I begin to ask

Dog-eat-dog mantra is accepted and followed aplenty
Acquaintances are several while friends are scanty
As work precedes family, and intentions wear masks
What would Love do I begin to ask

In search for an answer I look within
Reach out to my thoughts and experiences akin
Would Love be stuck in the corporate world like an empty cask?
Would it not struggle to break artificial corporate shackles I ask?

Love would spread peace, goodwill, oneness, and harmony
It will soothe tense nerves and eliminate corporate cacophony
It will force people to be genuine and pull down artificial walls
Against odds and pressures, Love will survive jerks and falls

Love would bring people together and promote common route
Actions promoting oneness are ethical beyond doubt
Love will surely struggle to balance demands on one’s time
It will put premium on relaxation and value anxiety for a dime

In the end, I yet ask, what are we looking for in life?
Relaxation in plenty or toil and constant strife
Balance is what defines our character at work and play
Isn’t that what Love stands for, and implies in a way?

By Sunil Puri

(PS: This poem is inspired by a recent course I did in corporate ethics)

Recession Hits Close-to-Home…

Being in India for most part of my career, the phenomenon of layoffs and job loss was as alien to me as having bagels-and-cream cheese for breakfast. Well I always read about pink slips, etc., but somehow thought that such things happen to people “I do not know.” Hence when a friend and ex-colleague recently became one of the hundreds-of-thousands of casualties of the global recession phenomenon, I did not know how to react!

Never thought that knowing someone who lost a job due to a layoff will be difficult. Well as a friend, I want to do everything to help; as an ex-coworker, I also (strangely) have some feelings of guilt or remorse, but regardless of my feelings, I am not sure how to help. It is easy to pay lip-service and say things like – “may be this is a blessing in disguise” or “use this opportunity to find your true calling,” but it is hard to imagine the emotions that the laid-off person may be going through. God bless this “friend,” hope he finds another job soon, and I hope sanity returns to global markets.

This development has stroked a feeling of “urgency” in me. For the past few days I find myself thinking more often than before about my “Plan B” -- alternative career options, generating multiple streams of income, smart investment planning, bank savings, etc.

Never thought recession will hit so-close-to-home, but I guess this a sort of awakening…

Will I "do a Don Quixote” in 2009?

Probably inspired by the Don Quixote case study that we discussed in the Leadership class recently, I have come up with a seemingly “crazy” resolution for myself for 2009. This year I have decided to go beyond mundane (yet seemingly do-able) resolutions such as finding a “perfect” job, reducing x kilos from my heavy frame, living a more balanced life, joining the gym, blah, blah, blah.

At the expense of possibly “doing a Don Quixote” in having larger-than-life (and beyond-reality) objectives, I have decided that I will move ahead with my long term dream of writing a book! “I will by the end of 2009 try and come up with a plot/story line/character details for my book.”

Though I have been dreaming of initiating this for a while, and despite having a “vague” idea of what I want to write, I have not done much about this “dream.” Hence I am putting it down on my blog so that I am committed to moving forward on this.

This may be one of my zillion dreams……but what is life without one anyways?