“My organisation is very nimble, and I have to keep changing things regularly in response to the customer requirements.” Amit was right in his argument. Any organization growth will change based on many external factors, customers are the most important ones. When the senior leadership keeps changing the path, the people at lower levels need to understand the reasons and...
“Makarand, we have been doing the same thing for the last few years. The business is stagnant. There is a total loss of motivation in the leadership team. I think we should drop what we are doing and do something else, that is completely different.” How often did you face similar situations in your business or your job? Changing a...
“Makarand, from your last post it looks like you work during vacation days, isn’t it? Do you work on the weekends?”I get this question many times from my team members. Particularly when they see my emails sent over the weekend. Even though I may be sending mail over the weekend, I don’t expect responses back, before the week starts....
“So Makarand, how was your strategic break last week? Did you get a chance for introspection?” I was anticipating this question from the teams I work with. “Yes, I did and soon you will see some difference in the way we work.” was my prompt answer. I thought about and evaluated my involvement in the activities of different teams, and categorized...
The data always tell a story, it needs to be heard correctly and without bias. Many a times the decision makers want the data to corroborate the conclusion that they have already reached. Some others tend to just discount the outcomes, as “Ah this is obvious or just common sense. We don’t need Big data to know this.” Both these...
On the first day in the office at my first job, I reached much before others. Banu, manning the reception, was the only person around. She asked me to wait in the reception area. After a short while, other employees started arriving. I was observing how they were entering the office, how they were dressed, how they were noticing and...
If intelligence is your ability to make decisions based on available information, then it should be the easiest task for computers. There is no lack of information, or data as we say it, and no lack of processing power either. Then what makes it so difficult for the computer to develop intelligence? The basic problem is that the term intelligence...
“Hmm. I had never thought about succession planning earlier. Now that you have initiated the discussions it has been high on my mind throughout the last week.” Yash was the one to get on to the topic real quick. “I am planning to be at this business conference in Europe for a couple of weeks. I was wondering how to...
“Makarand, what do you think is the next big challenge I should prepare for?” At business, everything has been settled, our product is doing well in the market, and customers are happy. “Growth! That is the most natural answer, but that is not the biggest challenge.” By this time, Yash is used to my unexpected answers. “The biggest challenge will be...
“Makarand, when we talked last week, you mentioned one point as important. Do I need to face the recession alone? I did not quite get it; can you please elaborate?” “For some businesses, it is quite tough to survive the recession. Everyone knows it is a phase that will pass. Let us look at who all are with us in this process. There are...
